Email 3: Friday 11th September

Hope everyone is well!

I haven't been up to too much for the last two weeks as I have had quite a bit to do at uni. However, I have been to a few of the different 'Hawker' centres around the city. These are like food courts, some are open air and some are enclosed, and they have stalls with foods from different countries. So if you want Singaporean food, Malay, South Korean food, Chinese, Indian or whatever you can take your pick! I went to a particularly famous one the other day called the the 'Lau Pa Sat' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lau_Pa_Sat). I had some Malay satay sticks and a Tiger beer as I had actually already eaten that particular afternoon, but they were really good! I then took a walk back through past the famous Fullerton Hotel and admired the lines of Porsches, Lambourghinis and Ferraris in the area! I then took my first walk to the Merlion, which is the national symbol of Singapore... and I have only just been to seen it! Well I lie, I did go to see it on the river cruise on my first week. With the food courts you get the more touristy ones which are more like a collection of indoor restaurants and others that are just food stalls. The food court that we have near my accomodation is not as good as the ones in the centre but it fulfills the job of allowing me not to cook at all! However, I am starting to get a little tired of rice... so I have started to go to the food courts that offer italian food for a little while. The good thing about all of the food centres is you can stand and watch them cook all your food and the Singaporeans being what they are have given them all a cleanliness rating (A-C) - I don't think I would eat at a C, but many say Bs taste a lot better than the As! Some of the food courts are even open 24hrs a day!

As most of you know by now - I have also moved flat. It is only just around the corner from where the other one was, but it is much better and... cockroach free!!! I now feel a lot more settled and I have now put all of my pictures up on the wall etc (as you can see from the pictures below, but I still haven't finished yet - still have a few more to print). It is nicer being on the second floor, not so dark and damp. It is still nice having the air con, but since we don't have any blocks either side of us now, we get a nice warm breeze through the flat in the evenings which is quite relaxing!

Mid-semester break is fast approaching! I have seminars on monday and wednesday and then on thursday I am off to Brisbane. I am staying with Chris from uni, who is on exchange at the University of Queensland from Nottingham, so no hotel fees to pay, which is always a bonus. I leave 3pm on the thurs and get back into Singapore at 8am on the following Friday, so about a full week there. Really looking forward to it now and seeing a face that I know from home! Also looking forward to stocking up on chips! hehe! Then the day I return from Brisbane it is the FORMULA ONE!!! I can't wait! My flatmates are rather jealous because I bought my tickets before I came and got the cheap price and they have paid just about the same for a walkabout ticket, when I have walkabout and a seat on the Bay Grandstand! :) I'm guessing I will take a few pictures!

Went to the Supreme Court yesterday- I guess I had to at some point! hehe! It was actually quite interesting. The big fascination seemed to be 'years ago out judges used to wear wigs', the British exchange students seemed rather underwhelmed... However, they did have a good excuse for getting rid of them... pouring sweat! The new Supreme Court is a quite peculiar building, the Court of Appeal which is the final court of appeal in Singapore (Unlike our Court of Appeal in the UK) resembles a UFO (you will see what I mean: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Supreme_Court). Another thing peculiar to the Singaporean Court system is that they have one Chief Justice (like us), but then they have only 3 Court of Appeal Judges (for starters we have 12 Law Lords/ Justices in the UK and then we have over thirty Court of Appeal Judges) - I know Singapore is small but they must still have a hefty caseload between the three of them! I was also intrigued how they managed to link every bit of the building's design to justice, e.g. the UFO shape symbolizing the impartiality of the judiciary! I hope everyone has noticed in the new constitutional change in the UK this month, the ending of the judicial arm of House of Lords and the opening of the new Supreme Court?

I managed to experience the sight of an Atlas Moth the other day outside our flat. From what I know, it is the largest moth in the world, you will see from the pictures below that it was rather large!

Besides all of this, I can't think of much else I have been doing!