You probably remember, I have arrived on 3rd January, Friday and my first day at NTU was on the following Monday. An almost complete disaster...
I have started out at about 8.30. I managed to find the shortcut to the bus, but I went over to the other side of the road (2*2 lanes) out of habit. But in Singapore people drive on the right, which meant that I had to return to the other side of the road to take the bus. Based on Google maps, I got off at the wrong stop. I knew which office I was looking for but not which building :) Then I remembered to look up the address of the business school on my phone (thank goodness for smart phones!) and used the map to find my way to the right building. It was HOT, the terrain is hilly and I was not sure I was going to the right place. When I found the first sign post indicating the Business School, I thought my travails were over. Wrong. I still had to find the office in a building with 5 levels (named in a fairly illogical fashion until you learn what the letters/numbers mean) and 3 sections. Anyway it was already 10 when I finally found the PhD coordinator, Karen.
Things were still not over. This is when round 2 started. Because the "lucky" fact that UM and NTU have an exchange agreement covering not only undergrad students but graduate students, and therefore me, as well, my registration is not handled by the business school phd coordinator, but the International Student Centre. So I have to go to the ISC. Karen showed me where to exit the business school building and which direction to take: up the hill. Heat, hilly terrain, and I was not sure where I was going. Actually this was easy to find, but it turns out that to ease exchange and new students' registration, the ISC has temporarily moved to a more convenient (khm) location, the Global Lounge, so I have to carry on walking. I got a map (finally!) and new instructions. With hindsight, the registration place is central, it is convenient, but on that first day I didn't know my way around, so it didn't help. Another 20 minutes walking, in the heat, etc.
At the Global Lounge, the ISC has set up a few numbered desks, called stations, with different steps of the registration process to be handled. I think first of all I had to fill in some forms, and show them my pre-registration and information document that was e-mailed to me. The document described what kind of fees I would have to pay (e.g. administration, sports, printing, etc.) It had zero for tuition fee - correct, because that is "covered" at my home institution. It also had zero for examination fee - which is also correct, because I am only auditing (sitting in) classes but I do not take them for credit, i.e. I am not going to take exams. The girl at this station had pre-printed documents detailing how much certain types of registering students would have to pay, "my type of student" has to pay about S$400, including examination fee. My document said about S$200, excluding examination fee. And at the bottom of the document it specifically says that anything paid cannot be reimbursed. So the girl, after extensive perusal of my letter and extensive consultation, gives me her sheet and tells me to go to yet another place :), the Student Activities Centre (actually very close and the route is air-conditioned), and pay S$400. But that is not the right amount. Could I please sit and wait? Consultation, but it is the right amount. But sorry, it is not. Consultation. Ok, then I should only pay what is in my letter. WOW! So I go over to the SAC and pay S$200 to be able to matriculate (=registration, azaz beiratkozas). Then I go back to the Global Lounge to complete the rest of the registration/matriculation process. I fill in some other documents. I receive information about how to arrange for my student pass. (The student pass is issued by ICA, the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoint Authority. It is normally a very complicated process, because one would have to arrange for an appointment and go to the city centre, the ICA headquarters to register for the student pass.) This was actually a surprise, because NTU has kindly arranged for ICA to come to the school the following Tuesday and register all the new students at one time and one go. Then at the final desk I could register for the two tours I have already described and a Chinese New Year Dinner (that I think I am not going to go to, but this is another story!). Then when everything was finished, I asked a question that Karen told me was important: how do I get my matriculation card? (The matriculation card, as I now know, is what you use to access buildings, access the online system, register at the library, so in effect that is the true student card, and as such it is essential to have.) Uhm. Could I please sit down and wait? Intense consultation. I have to go back to the SAC and request it. Ok I walk back. No, I don't have to request it, it is an automatic process, they will call me when it is ready. I walk back to the Global Lounge. Oops, they forgot to stamp my document showing that I have matriculated. Intense telephone consultation. And oops, if I go back to the ISC (on the top of the hill), and look for Raffida she will tell me how to get my matriculation card. Ok, good bye. I walk back to ISC in the heat, but at least I now know where I am going, look for Rafiida, and she gives me the matriculation card. ??? Of course she can give it to me, they already had my picture :)
Awesome. I walk back to the business school and check my card on entry. It doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work, says Karen, because I have to walk over to Campus Security, with a new piece of paper instructing them how to set up my card, i.e. which areas/buildings I am allowed to enter on campus. Ok, she prepares the sheet, I go on another trek, in another direction, but again in the heat :) And they set up my card. By the time I get back, it is 1 o'clock.
Then Karen showed me to the phd room, and the rest is history.
The good - everything else :)
This Tuesday at 9 I have showed up at the arranged place with all my documents to register for the student pass. The allocated time was 9-12, and there was a very long line, but overall I was done in less than an hour. While queuing we were instructed by the ISC people how to prepare our documents: which order to put them in (passport photo, embarkation card, In-principle acceptance letter, receipt of payment for visa, and a new document we had to fill in on the spot, passport) which boxes to fill in extra, countersign every single change on the form. Then enter the room. Queue at station A. Our documents were checked and ticked by one set of ICA officials. I was asked one question: when was my picture taken? (It is not supposed to be older than 3 months.) Then I was asked to queue at station B. There our photo and both thumbs were scanned. When I come to collect the student pass (a week later on Wednesday), would I please bring and show my passport. Good bye.
Although I do not have a local email address, I have online access to
university sites, e.g. the library, databases, and I can also print. This is the printer room
And the process of printing: you enter your user ID...
...tap your card at the card reader (interestingly the same card I use on the bus)...
...and then highlight the documents you want to print, the computer calculates the cost and deducts the payment, and finally you can collect your printing.
I have asked for Karen's help to "register" for some phd classes, and on Wednesday I went to my first class. It was an empirical behavioral (read experimental) accounting class. There were three articles, actually 2 working papers and one published article, that everybody had to read & prepare for. Each of the 6 first year phds either presented one of the papers or discussed one. And even before the class they had to prepare and submit a report discussing each paper on 1-2 pages each. It was a 3 hour class, with very lively discussions and insights from the professor but also other participants. Because the papers are changed every year, and because apparently it is such a good class, a lot of higher year phd students and even some of the assistant profs participate. Well, I also found it very interesting. While I am not an experimental person, I have learned a lot. And to be honest I was very envious. Students at NBS get to read the most recent research and learn how to discuss papers in their first year! I am green with envy. The students also have to write a proposal and present it. Other than the presentations, the class is unfortunately already over :(
Today, that is on Friday, I went to the second phd class I have so far been allowed to visit. This was Theory of Finance I (Investments). Asset pricing. Maximization, optimization, derivation, expectations, Lagrangians, etc. I think I could follow for the first half of the class :( The problem is, this was about their 6th session, and I haven't managed to cover the lecture notes or the textbook :) But also, to be honest, ToF II on corporate finance, is more up my alley. Still, I am going to go to these classes, because one of the future topics is information asymmetry, which is the topic of my papers 2 & 3 and I might just learn something directly relevant!!!
I have taken one picture in secret in the finance class, so it is not very good and doesn't show too much, but still. This is Executive Seminar Room 7.
In the afternoon I have checked out the finance textbook and therefore the library as well. I have found my way to the library building very easily, but I still mixed something up, because I went to the wrong floor - no signposting, and to the wrong end of the section - incorrect signposting :) Anyway it had an unintended benefit, I found a door that said Exam Hall and it had glass windows.
The library is not very big, but this is only the Business Library, and there are at least 3 more on campus!
The accounting section of the library is well stocked, but I haven't seen anything surprising at first glance. In the finance section I have chanced on the behavioral section, and that seemed very well stocked, definitely better than in Maastricht.
I cannot not include this picture. First, it shows my famous matriculation card (normal credit card size). And second, my newest acquisition, this cute stapler. I am soooo happy about it! :) It IS that tiny!
Finally, here are some more pictures I have taken on the way to and from the library.
