By: Kevin Phoojywg Xiong
Hi! My name is Kevin Phoojywg Xiong and I went on the Laos, Thailand, Malaysia (LTM) Winter Break 2018 study abroad program. Every year, I would be encouraged to go by friends who had gone before. In 2018, it was my 4th year at SCSU and I felt it was my time. Some main reasons I wanted to participate on the LTM experience was because I had grown to love making curry and this was an opportunity to eat authentic curry in other countries. Also, my parents and grandparents were born in Laos and Thailand. Although times have changed, I was interested in speaking with other Hmong kids my age who grew up in a different culture, and who were born in another country.
One of the most notorious moments I have from this trip happened during my time in Malaysia. It was astounding to hear and to see how many languages (Malay, English, Mandarin, Tamil, and others) were being spoken in everyday Malaysian life. Malaysia truly is multicultural and multilingual as the streets had different pockets of food and faith. One day, a group of us went to Gurney Plaza, one of Penang’s most popular malls, by public transportation. It had many floors filled with different shops filled with luxurious items, but food was the first thing we wanted to find.
The majority of the group wanted McDonald’s, but I wasn’t feeling it. We did not come all the way to Malaysia to eat what’s 5 minutes away from my house in Minnesota. Throughout my time at the mall, I decided to venture off by myself since we had been doing everything in small and big groups. Eventually, I found a nice place to eat and after I finished eating, I went to the highest floor to explore. After a couple of hours, I decided to it was time to go back to the hotel. I wasn’t sure exactly how to get back because I didn’t quite understand Penang’s busing system, but I remembered a classmate saying to just go back to where we got dropped off. I went back to the bus stop and when the bus arrived I got on.
In my mind, I thought, “Wow that was easy. You got this, Kevin.” I would arrive at my hotel with no complications.
NOPE.
30 minutes went by and that’s when I reassured myself to have faith that in any minute my hotel stop will turn up. The next thing I know, the bus came to an abrupt stop and the bus driver told everyone to get off. I was so CONFUSED because when I had gotten on the bus, I asked if this was the route back to my hotel, and the driver said, “Yes.” Everyone is getting kicked out in the middle of somewhere I didn’t know. We all got off and everyone else ran to different bus stops! I checked my phone and it had died. That’s when I started to panic. I had no idea where I was. My phone was dead. As much as I wanted to freak out, I told myself to chill out.
I walked over to the nearest bus stop and saw two locals waiting. I had to get out of my comfort zone and ask them for help. Thankfully, English is a language spoken in Malaysia. I explained my situation. I told them I’m on a study abroad trip from the US and I got separated at the mall from my group, so I tried coming back to our hotel by myself but got dropped off here instead. They asked me for the name of the hotel and when I told them they gasped. They said I was far away from the hotel and advised me to take a Grab back to the hotel (Grab is Malaysia’s version of Uber/Lyft) but my phone was dead. The people I asked directions from were so kind because they called a Grab for me to get back to my hotel.
When I got back to the hotel, I was so relieved.
One thing I learned from that experience is that I need to be more aware of my surroundings and that asking for help is a necessity sometimes.
Kevin’s Advice for students planning to study abroad:
If you’re interested in studying abroad… Submit your application in early as possible in case of any mistakes/questions (deadlines will come fast so don’t be last minute as you have to get your passport situated), save up money early so you can buy what you need and what you want during your trip (especially if you want to buy things for people back at home) because you’re going to need and want A LOT of things, and come out of your comfort zone a bit i.e. speaking a language other than English or trying food outside of the American culture. It was fun to ask vendors ‘How much does this cost?’ And it was fun to eat crickets and scorpions with my friends. Also, document everything!
Check out some of Kevin’s education abroad photos:
About the series: HMoob (Hmong) around the World was brought to life to inspire, to ignite, and to reimagine the hope of education abroad opportunities for students in the near future. I hope you find courage, I hope you find strength, and I hope you study abroad. HMoob (Hmong) around the World will showcase a series of testimonials from HMoob alum who look like you, speak the same language as you, and may have experienced similar things as HMoob (Hmong) American college students. These are their education abroad stories.
This series is coordinated and edited by Sabrina Nkauj Nag Yang.