Nanyang Technological University, or NTU as it is more commonly referred to as, is located at the West side of Singapore in the region of Boon Lay and is one of the leading universities in the world. The campus covers an expansive area such that several chartered buses (called the Red, Green and Blue buses) run daily every day to offer commute to the students staying or going around NTU. It may take 20mins to get from one end of NTU to the other. That said, NTU are sometimes affectionately referred to as Pulau NTU.
Another reason why it is called Pulau NTU, or NTU island in English, is the fact that one may literally live in the campus without having the need to leave it. The campus houses numerous Hall Residences, numbered from 1 - 23 (as of 2018), at frankly quite affordable rates (around an average of SGD$300/ month). Each Hall will have a canteen situated nearby for their daily meals. At the major points of studying avenues, called North Spine and South Spine, there are fast-food restaurants such as McDonalds, Long John Silver, KFC, Subway and PizzaHut and restaurants such as PenInc.There is also supermarkets for one to shop their daily groceries, namely at North Spine called Prime Supermarket and at Canteen 2 called Giant Supermarket. Thus, for a student living on campus the basic needs for survival can be taken care of. The question now thus, is what activities can be done to enrich and stimulate your mind and body in NTU? This is a list of casual suggestions which I hope might be useful for you who wants to know what can be done in NTU to fill your time, if you have no plans to travel out of NTU.
1) Join a student club or hall activity
Of course, if one really intends to make their time worthwhile for a cause or to learn something interesting, they can join one of a plethora of clubs and sports offered by the school and the respective halls. This range from volunteering, dancing, performing, sports, cultural clubs and even board game clubs. There is really so many options for one to join. For a full list: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/CampusLife/Clubs/Pages/StudentsUnionClubs.aspx . This list does not include Hall activities. The respective halls offer more activities for one to join with the aim to enrich the lives of their residences and they are organized by each hall's appointed committees. Thus, each Halls have their own sports, games and events organised. Furthermore, in around December, all the Halls would compete in the Inter-Hall Games (IHG) in several sports and intellectual games (such as chess).
For me, in Year 1, I took part in Table Tennis and Hall Production (drama) in Crescent Hall (after dropping Darts, Pool and Soccer) and was PnP Director for NTU's Linguistics club. It was a hectic year XD. In Year 2, I shifted hall and is now in the Dinner and Dance committee for Tamarind Hall and I also volunteer for the Deaf Society and is part of the upcoming LMS camp and SOH camp.
2) Keeping fit
It is always important to keep fit. I find having a fit body also relates to a fit mind and having good habits, so where can one go to keep fit on their own spare time?
Gym
Each respective Halls should have a gym in their hall or nearby. The newer halls such as Binjai, Banyan, Tanjong, Tamarind, Crescent and Pioneer Halls all have their own gyms. I do know Hall 1 has a small gym, as I have been there. Either way, one can also go to the Student Recreational Centre (SRC) located behind Hall 6, Pioneer and Crescent Hall which is the main place where NTU sports club go to meet. The SRC actually has three gyms and I find them having less traffic than the Hall gyms. One of the gym, however, is reserved for NTU athletes representing NTU in competitions. These gyms are free to use for students and staff of NTU.
Running
There is a running track circling around NTU which is marked by its blue rubber track. The track has several routes one may choose to take ranging from 1.6km to 7km. A full list of them can be found here: http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/healthylifestyle/ntu_road_map.swf . Also, one can also run at the SRC where there is a stadium with a running track for one to use.
Swimming
At the SRC, there is a swimming complex consisting of a child pool, adult pool and a diving pool. The diving pool with it 3m and 5m diving platform is open to the public on Wednesdays 6-7pm.
Other Sports
For organised sports such as Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis, Squash, Soccer and Basketball, one can book the required facility, for free, here: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/has/SnR/SportsFacilities/Pages/BookingofFacilities.aspx . Rackets, balls etc are not provided, so you will have to bring them yourselves. Some of the places one can play the sports are, the respective Halls, the SRC (there are 4 courts to play street soccer) and Tanjong, Binjai Hall cluster.
You can usually find me running or gymming on Mondays and Wednesdays at my Hall, SRC or Route 2 or 8 of the NTU running track ;)
3) Leisure Games
What if you just want to chill, play some games or just hang around? You can do just that at non other than the Student Activities Centre located at North Spine. Its precise location is next to One-Stop (a crucial place to know for NTU students as this is where all our administrative needs are done) and a printing shop and below the huge Lee Wee Nam library. Here, one can play Table Tennis, Pool or snooker, foosball, board games and the game consoles (Wii, XBOX, PS) located there. However, there is a small hourly fee for the game consoles and a limited number of games offered.
There are several Darts machines located at Canteen 2 charging only SGD$1 for a game.
And if you want to just chill and watch a movie, there are actually 'movie pods' which can accommodate up to four people located at the Library Outpost at the Hive at South Spine. There, you can borrow a DVD from a pretty wide collection, book a movie pod for free and just sit and watch the movie.
For the avid book reader, there are also pretty nice spots to sit and chill around campus. The libraries often have cosy spots to read in an air-conditioned environment (as we all know how the heat may get to you in Singapore!). I would recommend the Library Outpost, as they have cosy bean bags to lie on. The Humanities and Social Science Library located at South Spine also offers interesting books on their shelves.
I used to play a lot of Darts with some friends in Year 1 at Canteen 2, thus, I would recommend that place. Other than that, reading is a pretty nice thing to do too in my free time in NTU.
4) Drinks & Such
I am no expert on this subject, but this may be of interest to others. In Singapore, there is a ban on sale of alcohol from 10.30pm - 7am (due to a recent event in Little India). If you wish to buy alcohol drinks from a store, you can do so at PRIME and Giant supermarket as mentioned above or at the 7 11 store located at Canteen 2. This ban does not include restaurants and bars thus you can still buy them at Pen & Inc. There are some beer brewing clubs at Binjai called Binjai Breweries (although they may be closing down soon) and another at Crescent Hall. Of course, for student residents many do store their alcoholic drinks and from time to time would celebrate with their hall residents and friends.
I used to drink and club quite a bit in Year 1. I think for those new to Singapore, it is important to note that the price of alcohol here, due to a high alcohol tax, is really high. Someone from France once told me the cost of the same alcohol can cost $1-2 there but $8 in Singapore.
Thus are just some suggestions on things to do on your own or with a group of friends if you are staying or intending to stay in Pulau NTU. I hope this short guide is useful and give you some ideas on life here. There are of course more activities which I may have missed or only skimmed upon which I myself have not tried my hands on. The point of this post is, there are really so many things to occupy your time with in NTU and I hope those who are studying here can appreciate and enjoy every moment of their time here.:)
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