Time has passed since all of us left our new second home Malaysia and I’m missing it since the day I got home. Every day was a new adventure that was completely different from my life at home. I
I had the best time living in the smallest apartment with my friends, doing sports with them almost every day because we had a gym and a swimming pool at the sixth floor.
Especially the mini-market at the basement of our building that was opened until 2am did it’s job during the examination phase, emotional breakdowns and late-night cravings when we needed snacks and a lot of candy. And of course going with my roommates to university, studying together and going back home together were some of the little things that made me happy.
In Germany I wouldn’t grab an uber just because I want to visit my friends from university because it’s either too expensive or my friends live at the opposite side of the city. You are still able to meet them through public services but it would take way longer than in Malaysia: You were able to enjoy every second because you had the opportunity to do a lot more things. Because in this country it was cheaper and everyone you knew lived in the same area.
It felt like there were malls in every corner of the street and they had an offer of leisure activities that was incredible. Cinema, Bowling, ice skating or even a roller coaster in a mall? Malaysia makes it possible. The malls were so big so that you never got bored and even grocery shopping in Tesco (that was also located in a mall) was the highlight of our week. But that may be a personal thing.
The country has a completely different culture compared to the european culture. The population is mainly Muslim- dominated. That’s why there were a few challenges and an anxiety appeared that you could offend somebody in any way. But all of the people I met were very understanding and welcoming so that I didn’t have to worry about the difference between our cultures or religions.
They gave us an insight into how they live. We learnt to eat rice with our hands properly without getting half of the food in our face or how to wear traditional clothes. It’s incredible how nice people can contribute to your time away from home and make it to something special. If I wouldn’t have met them my semester would have been only half as good.
Besides of all the fun we had of course we also had to go to university. I wouldn’t say that it was absolutely easy and there wasn’t much work to do but we had great teachers and we definitely learnt a lot we can use in the future. The university itself felt like a big crazy school. It had huge banners of the university’s fashion brand and pictures of awards that looked they were straight given to the university from the Oscar’s jury. Besides all this advertisement stuff you also had a little bit of that „Fame“ atmosphere because it is a really creative university. Nobody would care you would walk around in a crazy costume or if you would stand up and start singing out loud loud. Because in this university it is kind of normal to do something like this. I mean which university has it’s own fashion show every Thursday?
I recommend everyone to choose a country with a completely different culture. Different from any culture you have ever experienced before. Try to be open-minded and to make friends so that you can get a new perception on life and other cultures around you. It was an amazing opportunity and it made me grow into a more mature and open-minded person with unique memories that I will always keep in my heart.
