During the first couple of days of my recce trip, I choose to stay on the NTU Campus. This was a great opportunity to get a first glimpse of how I would be to live on campus during fall (ok, so they don’t really have seasons in Singapore, so let’s just call it the first semester). The NTU campus of is located east of the city with the closest MRT stations being Pioneer and Boon Lay. It is a smooth 40 min ride from the city center plus a 10-15 min bus ride to get to the Campus. The campus is really calm and have a certain kind of easy-going vibe to it.

During these days, I had the opportunity to meet with some of my future colleagues at the School of Computer Science and Engineering, the International Office and Faculty Housing.

Nanyang Executive Center

During my time at the NTU Campus, I stayed at the Nanyang Executive Center. This is a fairly nice (even though quite expensive) hotel/conference venue on campus. They had a nice breakfast buffet at the Cosmo restaurant in the Campus Clubhouse. Using your keycard you can also access the swimming pool and training facilities on campus. Nice to go for a couple of laps to cool down after a day of busy meetings.

School of Computer Science and Engineering

The School of Computer Science and Engineering (SCSE) is one out of many schools at NTU. It is located in the N4 block of the huge North Spine complex in the middle of the NTU Campus. The administration and faculty offices are located mainly on the second floor. This is the school that will be my host during my teaching sabbatical in Singapore and the N4 block is where my office and teaching will be during the semester. The entrance is close to the North Spine Plaza that has a food court with mostly junk food (all other places offer nice and much cheaper food).

Faculty Housing

NTU Faculty Housing have many great apartments on the NTU Campus and it looks like we will have the opportunity to stay in a two bedroom apartment during the teaching sabbatical. Compared to the usual rents in Singapore the rents at the University is subsidized a little bit, meaning that even though we’re paying way more than for a house back home, it is still cheaper.

I had the opportunity to check out the housing at the campus and get a preview of possible living situation for the family. The apartments for short-term visitors (less than a year, i.e. us) are partly furnished and beds, kitchen utilities and other stuff you don’t really wanna buy for a five-month period, are mostly included. The apartments are fairly large and the rent is more or less dependent on the size of the apartment. In our case there are either a 2 or 3 bed room apartment that is the best option. We have to discuss through this and choose wisely!