Singapore = LA, NUS = UCLA

After spending time here I come to this conclusion.

Singapore is LA. LA is Singapore. NUS is UCLA. UCLA is NUS. Fundamentally, there is no difference whether you're back home or here. And I am fucking pissed. I did not pay SGD11,000 to go to another country to find that it is fundamentally the same as back home!!!

Why is it the same? (Note: I am talking about living-in-that-place (i.e. adaptation) perspective. Obviously NUS can't hold up to UCLA research power, but this discussion is not about stuff like these).

Food

Yes, American food is horrible. But that's not their fault. Point the middle finger at the government for pampering us Sinkaporeans with nice eating food. Point the middle finger at Asians in general for cooking better food. I hate Singapore because they have nicer eating food. BUT, ultimately food is a trivial reason. Don't be like losers who migrated to {insert country} then come back crying saying they miss the Char Kway Teow. One must not stoop to this level of pathetic-ness. Strangely enough, WL has found an uneasy equilibrium with the food here. Since every meal is essentially a buffet, WL configures the food to this liking. Today I had chicken rice. Which is fried rice with 2 pieces of grilled chicken. It wasn't served that way, the chicken were from burgers... I extracted the meat out. Just as I do some minor configuration with the food back home, here I do some major configuration by mixing together ingredients of dishes that weren't meant or designed to be combined. A logical extrapolation from my habits at home.

Culture

Culturally, the Americans are no different from Sinkaporeans. In terms of the student culture, it's all the same like NUS. People go about their own business. Yes, the Americans say Hi and Bye more frequently, but that's just protocol. Tell yourself to say Hi and Bye randomly and you start behaving like an American. But fundamentally, people just go about their lives. People mug, people party, people have sex... like in Singapore. Profs here are like profs at home, but I guess they talk about their research more, which I find it better. WL doesn't know much about non-student culture, but from where I see it, there's nothing culturally shocking here. People at home say Americans are liberal, I disagree. They don't have naked women in the restaurant (you know the one where they place the food on the naked woman) like in France. Singaporeans are liberal, just that they don't wanna admit it. An analogy.

WL to Girl: "Wanna fuck?"
American Girl: "Sure"
Singaporean Girl: "Don't want la, I shy" {Implied meaning: Yes, I want to fuck, but I can't admit it officially}

Get the point?

Ethnicity

One would think that going to a predominantly white men country (aka Caucasians) would be groundbreaking. Not so. Cause LA is not a predominantly white city. In fact, it's so similar to NUS. Just imagine this. You are at NUS. For every PRC you see (I know it's hard to identify them by looks alone, but once they start speaking you know), replace it with a Caucasian. For every Indian you see (as in India Indians), replace it with a Mexican (Latin American origin). For your fellow Singaporeans, replace it with American Chinese. For the rest, replace it with blacks. There you go! It's UCLA!!! Roughly speaking, UCLA is about 50% White, 25% Asian, 25% Latin American & Blacks. So instead of being a school flooded with PRC people, you get one that has a large white majority. And I take the white people over PRC people anytime of the day.

Sports, Music and Others

Like in Singapore, Americans are into sports. Singaporeans watch soccer. Americans watch basketball. But they're all the same, cause WL doesn't like sports. Same goes for music. Americans listen the same music as you do, but WL doesn't listen to music.

An Alternative Explanation

WL has come out with a hypothesis of why NUS seems so much like UCLA and vice versa, even though technically speaking both countries should be culturally different. Simple. WL was never a Sinkaporean to begin with. Sure, I was born and raised in Sinkapore, but I have never associated myself as a Sinkaporean. Sure, I have the Sinkaporean accent and Sinkaporean lingo, but those are trained. Just live among the Americans for some time (maybe a year), and most likely you will have an American accent and American lingo. Such stuff can be learnt. Check with the NOC dudes. Seriously, if you been to NOC and if you can't pass off as an American Born Chinese, then I say what the fuck have you been doing!

And finally, most importantly, WL doesn't fit in anywhere. Not anywhere on this globe. Not in Sinkapore. Not in America. WL sticks out like a sore thumb. So wherever I go, I will in theory be equally adapted or rather equally un-adapted to the local culture.

So finally the question is not whether can WL adapt to {insert city}, but rather what is the level of un-adaptedness WL has for {insert city}.