The Yale-NUS experience

It was an extremely lucky, almost miraculous, series of events that led me to Yale-NUS.

My initial plan was to go to an Ivy League university in the United States, but my professor had convinced me to focus on gaining a new cultural experience rather than solely an educational one. Following this, I arbitrarily chose Singapore as an exchange destination, and picked the National University of Singapore (NUS) as my first choice and Yale-NUS as my second choice. Although I did not end up at NUS, it did not make a difference to me in the end. After having spent three months within these campus grounds, I now feel so grateful that it turned out this way.

Before coming to Singapore, I did not have a clear idea of how my life would be here. My original plan was to travel as much as the regulations allowed, but apart from this, I could not predict what my everyday life would be like. It was only when I arrived that I could appreciate the uniqueness of Singapore, at least compared to the European regions I have seen, such as the level of safety and cleanliness, the ginormous buildings, and also the strict COVID-19 regulations.

Although it took me some time to adjust to the new environment, nothing could have prepared me for my time at Yale-NUS. There is a vast, almost unimaginable, difference between the College and my home university, Bocconi University. Compared to the latter, the College is smaller, I get to live on campus and have my own room, and there are many free-to-access facilities both at Yale-NUS and NUS. It almost felt like a vacation!

The view from my room. Image provided by Milan Alexy.

What was more striking, however, was the small community. It was easier to meet new people and faculty members could spend more time attending to students’ needs, resulting in an experience of social fulfillment that I never had before.

The other memorable aspect of my past three months at Yale-NUS were the peers I had encountered. While I mostly met with fellow exchange students during the orientation, I also had the chance to meet many Yale-NUS undergraduates during College events, in student organisations, or sometimes simply at the dining hall. The thing that made residential life so unique was that everyone I met was very kind and genuine from the first interaction. Obviously, not every community is flawless, but I still feel that the people I met here are among the warmest and most caring ones in my life.

A visit to the Cloud Forest at Gardens by the Bay. Image provided by Milan Alexy.

Apart from the orientation programme for exchange students, the campus is often abuzz with many activities that promote the College values as well as to simply tide us through the semester. If I had to pick my favourite events, they would definitely be Diversity and Sexual Wellness Weeks.

This inclusiveness is not just unique to the student body; the faculty also go out of their way to  make our experience as fulfilling as possible. It would be remiss of me not to highlight the professors of Yale-NUS (after all, this is an academic institution). While I may not know how to define a good professor, I personally believe that the College employs a high number of them. My professors were very supportive and open to questions and clarifications, and I even had the opportunity to work with one of them on a research project about human attention and its relation to the size of our pupil Also, the fact that I got to take one of my all-time favorite modules — Cognitive Psychology— was the cherry on the cake of my time here.

Yale-NUS offered me both a socially and academically enriching experience.

It was indeed an extremely lucky, almost miraculous, series of events that led me to this college, and I would not have it any other way.