Living in Singapore: my honest take - Travel the World with Morgane

6 months in Singapore: Too long for a holiday. Too short to belong.

I had already been to Singapore once before. The city’s modernity stands out immediately: the skyline, the infrastructure, the cleanliness, and above all the sense of safety. It’s also incredibly well connected, making it easy to travel around Asia from there. I left wanting to come back and even to live there one day.

So when it came to finding my end-of-studies internship, I specifically looked for something in Singapore. I ended up joining a large French aerospace group in a marketing and sales role. And it turns out I wasn’t the only one drawn to the city: there’s a huge French community there, made up of expats, students on exchange, and interns. You definitely won’t feel alone.

The rules: and they mean it

Singapore’s reputation for strict rules is 100% deserved. Fines for:

Eating or drinking on the MRT (metro)
Littering
Jaywalking
Chewing gum
Pretty much anything else you can think of

There are even Facebook groups where people post photos of rule-breakers to report them publicly. But you adapt quickly: it’s a small price to pay for one of the safest cities in the world. I walked home alone at any hour without a second thought. That’s rare, and after a while you realise how much mental energy that saves you every single day.

The cost of living: some surprises

Expensive, but not always where you’d expect.

Where it’s surprisingly affordable:

Food courts (hawker centres): Indian, Malaysian, Chinese… every cuisine, every day, for 4-5 SGD. The quality is outstanding and genuinely cheaper than cooking yourself. I ate there every day for 6 months and it was some of the best food I’ve ever had

Where it hurts:

Alcohol: a beer at a bar is easily 12-15 SGD
Shopping: Orchard Road is beautiful but not for bargains
Rent: expensive, but most expat apartments are in condos with pool and gym
Night transport: no MRT after midnight, and Grab prices surge hard

The heat: Sweating 365 days a year

Not summer-in-France hot. We’re talking 30°C with 80% humidity, every single day, all year round. A few things to know:

Walk 10 minutes outside: you’re soaked
November-February rainy season: it pours for hours, stops, then starts again
Any outdoor sport is a real challenge: early morning or indoor gym, those are your only options
The AC inside malls is brutal: you need a jacket indoors and melt the second you step outside

A city that knows how to celebrate

One thing you don’t get as a tourist: experiencing Singapore’s festivals from the inside. The city is genuinely multicultural, and each community brings its own celebrations. A few highlights:

Chinese New Year (Jan/Feb): the biggest one. Chinatown transforms completely with lanterns and decorations. At the office, dragon dances come through the floors collecting money: one of those moments you’d never expect coming from France
Fruit Day at the office: the company brings in tropical fruits for everyone to share outside. Including durian, the king of fruits in Southeast Asia: intense smell, acquired taste, but a true Asian experience
National Day (9 Aug): Singapore’s independence day. Massive parade at Marina Bay and fireworks

And there’s more throughout the year: Deepavali (Festival of Lights in Little India), Hari Raya Puasa (end of Ramadan), the F1 Grand Prix night race around Marina Bay, and the Mid-Autumn Festival with mooncakes and lanterns in Chinatown.

Work culture: not what I expected

A few things that caught me off guard:

Very presenteeism culture: being at the office and being seen matters as much as your output
Long hours are the norm
Saving face (perdre la face in French) is deeply ingrained: never give critical feedback in a meeting in front of others. I saw a colleague resign overnight after being put on the spot during a presentation: not fired, they chose to leave. That was my crash course 😂

My colleagues were genuinely kind and welcoming. But building real friendships is harder than it looks: people are reserved, and most Singaporeans speak Mandarin as their first language. Even in an English-speaking office, everyone is making an effort to communicate in a second language, so their native language naturally comes through at times.

And honestly, I did the same with other French colleagues, we’d naturally slip back into French without even thinking about it. As a result, you can sometimes feel a bit on the outside of conversations, even when no one intends it.

The expat bubble: harder to escape than you’d think

The French community in Singapore is huge, and so is the broader expat scene. That’s one of the best parts when you first arrive: you never really feel alone, and there’s always someone to explore the city with.

But it also makes it surprisingly easy to stay within that bubble and never really connect with locals. The cultural differences, in social habits, references, and even pace of life can make deeper friendships with Singaporeans genuinely difficult to build.

If you’re not Singaporean: know the limits

Singapore welcomes foreign talent generously, but there are clear limits, and you feel them more the longer you stay.

You can’t buy HDB housing (where most Singaporeans build wealth).
Permanent residency is extremely difficult to obtain. Even the CEO of a large French company struggled for years to get PR and never succeeded.
If you lose your job, you typically have about one month to leave the country.
And citizenship is almost impossible! Even then, Singapore doesn’t allow dual nationality, which means giving up your French passport.

In short Singapore offers you a beautiful life but only on a temporary visa…

So: would I go back?

Maybe, but only for a short period. Unless you’re extremely wealthy and financially secure, I can’t really see myself building a family here without the same rights as Singaporeans. There’s a sense that things can change very quickly, and that stability always depends on your visa and job situation.

That said, two years there would genuinely be among the best years of your life:

Safe, clean, modern: the jewel of Southeast Asia
Food that will ruin you for everywhere else
The perfect base to explore all of Asia on weekends
A standard of living that’s hard to match anywhere

But all good things come to an end. Singapore is a place you live intensely for a chapter, not a place you put down roots. And honestly? Maybe that’s exactly what makes it so special.