Coming from a foreign country to study in Singapore, I could not help but to notice a few differences in the culture practiced back in my country and also in Singapore.
When I first stepped into NUS, I must admit that I was quite surprised to see that the first girl that I met was wearing just a pair of shorts and a singlet. For us Malaysians, this attire is an ultimate no- no in our local universities. Students are not allowed to wear shorts on campus even if they are not attending lectures. For guys, it might still be acceptable in some cases, but for ladies, it is a compulsory rule to wear long pants or skirts that are well below their knees, even in hostels. The students are also not allowed to wear sleeveless shirts in any occasion on campus.
Before I came into NUS, I thought that the rules in Singapore would be similar to Malaysia, and thus, I packed all my long pants and jeans into my luggage and brought only 2 pairs of shorts that I thought I would wear in my room. Imagine my surprise when I reached my hall, and almost everyone was in shorts. I felt quite awkward and out of place when I had to wear my jeans in the hall since the shorts that I have brought over here were obviously not sufficient. After attending my very first lecture in Singapore, only did I realized that we are allowed to wear shorts/skirts that are not way too short and we could even wear sleeveless shirts to school. In Malaysia, the students must wear covered shoes when attending lectures. However, in Singapore, one of the most common footwear that I see around campus is slippers. Furthermore, I have also noticed that some of the students here tend to dress up very nicely whenever they go for lecture and have a better sense of fashion. Students in Malaysia are always in the usual jeans and shirts attire.
This is probably why, when we Malaysians first came over to Singapore, the locals here would be able to guess correctly where we came from. It must be the way we dress ourselves up and the boring (!) fashion sense that we have :P Needless to say, when I went back to Malaysia for my first recess week, I bought many pairs of shorts. My twin sister who is studying in Malaysia was so envious of me because of this and the fact that it is kind of hot to wear long pants all day long when they are attending lectures. I guess there is nothing that can be done for her case since Malaysia is a pretty conservative country where we have to respect the Malays over there who make up the majority of Malaysian populations.
