Written by: Anna Nelson, 2019
My semester abroad in Malaysia has been the most spectacular period of my life so far! Out of the nearly 60 exchange students at Taylor’s University, only two of us were from the United States. I think that set me up well to be able to branch out and get to know people from all over the world, since the exchange students tended to hang out with one another. There were a lot of international students who, while not exchange students, were welcoming and showed us around and they often took trips with us.
Before studying in Malaysia, I had never left the United States, but now I’ve been to a total of 8 countries! It’s been such an amazing experience. The world feels much smaller, now that I’ve been to the other side of it. I have friends on every inhabited continent, so I get to keep feeding the fire for more adventures throughout my life.
Truthfully, I wish I had managed my money better, but it’s difficult to keep limits in mind when there are new experiences to be had every day. On the weekend before classes started, I went with a group of girls to the island of Pangkor. We realized that buses in Malaysia have a different sense of time, and while you should never be late, since they’re usually on time, the buses might be as much as 2 or 3 hours behind schedule. This mentality was not unique to the transportation services. Even with class start times, everyone is much more relaxed about punctuality. I had professors and classmates who would show up to class 10-15 minutes late every day. I adapted really quickly to that mindset. I even began to worry that I’d have a hard time getting used to stressing about time once I returned home.
The food was amazing. There was a wonderful variety and since I was coming from the U.S., the portion sizes were noticeably smaller than what I was used to. That (and the fact that most places don’t really use dairy) ended up working to my advantage. I lost about 10 lbs in the first month of being there. I have noticed after coming back home that the food seems really bland. Some exchange students had a difficult time adjusting to how spicy the dishes were, but you can usually order things to be prepared so they don’t set your mouth on fire.
There was a student who had been living in Kuala Lumpur for about 5 years, but was originally from Bali in Indonesia. He was really fun to be around and offered to show us around Bali if we wanted to take a trip there. A group of about 15 exchange students took him up on his offer and we rented a villa in Bali for a week. He took us to a monkey reserve where one of the macaques climbed on my back. Another student taught me how to surf while we were there. I noticed that, while we didn’t always get to see as much, any time I was travelling with a big group, it was tons of fun.
Photos from Anna’s adventures
On the day I was scheduled to return from The Philippines to Malaysia, I missed my flight. I had spent all of my money and couldn’t afford another flight back. I was completely stranded and reached out to everyone I knew trying to find a way to get home. To make matters worse, I had to get a flight soon, or I would be missing an exam. I ended up waiting in the airport for 18 hours just trying to stay positive. I had my grandfather transfer money to my account, but it would take up to 24 hours for the transaction to go through. I truly must be the luckiest person on the planet, because there were a couple of girls I had met two days prior who happened to be leaving that night. They knew I was supposed to have already gone by the time they came through the airport. I explained what was going on and they insisted on getting me a flight back, with the promise of taking a vacation with them someday. Through all of my travels, the clearest lesson I’ve learned is that people will always surprise you with their kindness and generosity.
I feel incredibly blessed to have gotten to meet the people that I traveled with. Nearly every weekend, I got to take a new adventure. Since there was only one other American, I sort of floated between groups, travelling with the French, Spanish, Dutch, Italians, Pakistanis, and Germans. Everywhere I went, I was always amazed by the hospitality of locals. I have a friend from Minnesota, who now lives in Hanoi in Vietnam. I visited him while I was on that side of the world and he shared similar stories of the hospitality that you can encounter all over the world.
The blend of cultures and rich history in Asia was really cool. Specifically in Kuala Lumpur, the cultural pluralism is interesting to see, especially considering how people of different cultures are often discriminated against in the U.S. (specifically by elected officials). There were so many historical sites that I got to visit while abroad. I went to Melaka, which has Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, and English influences in combination with the Malaysian culture. I also got to visit Siem Reap and Phenom Penh in Cambodia, Hanoi in Vietnam, and Seoul in South Korea. In Cambodia, I spent days trekking through temples that were almost 2,000 years old and visited the killing fields where the Khmer Rouge slaughtered over a million people. It was the most heartbreaking experience of my life, but I think the perspective was necessary to appreciate Cambodia and the world more accurately. In Hanoi, they offer free walking tours for people who are interested to learn more about the city. They covered topics on the French occupation as well as the Vietnam-U.S. War. I only got to spend a day in Seoul, because I was there on a layover. Thankfully, their airport offers free tours into the city for people who have extra time to kill. I got to see the palace used by Korea’s first dynasty and the building where they created the Korean alphabet. I wish I could’ve gotten to spend more time there, but I guess I’ll just have to go back.
Anna’s adventures included:
- A weekend trip to Singapore
- Camping in Taman Negara where she took a night hike and spied scorpions that glow under a black light
- A walk through an indigenous village
- Sleeping in the world’s oldest tropical rain forest
- Visiting 6 of the 7,000+ islands of The Philippines, and hiking up a volcano
Learn more about the education abroad program to Malaysia