Student Exchange Experience by SHARE EU ASEAN Scholarship 2017

Hello readers!

I know it’s been long since I got back in my country, Indonesia. Now I finally post my experiences during my exchange in Malaysia exactly at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) which is located in Bangi, Selangor.

Experience, the one which is so priceless, unexpectedly too amazing, unforgettable, and unrepeatable. Actually no words can explain how I feel about my exchange experience, but at least that’s how I describe this exchange. To be honest, currently I miss all the moment i have in Malaysia, but i know i can’t repeat it again, even if i go back, Malaysia will never be the same as Malaysia when i was there for my exchange L

I’m not gonna explain all the activities very detail cause it’s gonna be too long. Here are what i got. The very first thing is friends or i can say it as networks? I got a chance to meet incredible friends which are from different countries starting from ASEAN; Malaysia, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam, Philippine, from outside ASEAN; Japan, Taiwan, Netherlands, Turkey, Kazaztan, China, Bangladesh, etc.  It’s really good that we tried to get to know each other, tried to understand with all the diversity, so many differences among us like the religion, culture, language, behavior, lifestyle, the way of think, YES but we managed to handle it, we applied tolerance for each other. Even i became best friend with some of them! Omg i feel blessed and so thankful!

A higher quality of university. Actually this is the main reason why i chose UKM and no other universities in other ASEAN countries. You guys can Google how’s the ranking of UKM in World Class University. I got to say that i enjoyed studying there very much starting from the great facilities till the great quality of teaching. I love the fact that i walked many times like from my dorm to my faculty or other spots inside the university. The lectures used English as the main language so it was my first time to practice my English in academic activities! I found it very exciting. Something motivated me so much to study harder than usual, i thought i was like representative from Indonesia in the class, i wanted Indonesia to be known as good as it could be, so study well was the only option for me. I really did my best for the academic there.

During my time there, i always thought i had to spend my time well there and don’t ever do stupid things that would lead me to any regrets in the future cause i know there aint no second time.  I tried my best to make myself deserved to get the scholarship. I tried to do positive things as many as i could. It was a good moment to share to the world about Indonesia and also to know about other countries at the same time. I was active to join any events to introduce Indonesia whether from the food, the map, the traditional clothe, the unique beverage (jamu), traditional song, even me and my Indonesian friends did a Saman dance and everyone liked it! We were so happy! Not just that, i also took parts in Indonesian students association at UKM for having sports competition, it was exhausting but i felt very excited so i could meet new friends from Indonesia. Let’s be friends with people around the world.

Other thing i got to do was explore as much as i could! Yes! I traveled to many destinations. Inside Malaysia, i went to many destinations even i went to Melaka, Penang, and Langkawi. I learnt bahasa melayu, it was not easy for me cause i swear i never watched upin ipin before so i did not understand melayu very well. I also learnt about Malaysia’s history, culture, lifestyle, etc. Not just traveled inside Malaysia, but i also traveled to some countries in ASEAN which were Singapore and Vietnam!

I feel like i become a more open minded person, i recognize myself more as a global citizen. It’s really good to know some new things that u did not know before, i learnt so much. Before i went for this exchange, i did not consider ASEAN for my future, but now i even want to travel to all countries in ASEAN. It’s awesome that we have so many similarities yet different. I become more aware of ASEAN, i become more aware of this world. I realized it more that this world is such a big place, there’s so much to explore, to see, to witness, to know, to learn. I also got to know myself better. How far can i go? How far can i survive? Who is me? It’s just when you go out of your comfort zone you will be able to push yourself more than what you expect, more than you know what u can do. Being in a class between many people from many countries will let you know where you stand, how’s your competitive advantage among others, “am i capable enough to compete and to work with other people in this world?” For me, that question popped out in my head. When it happens, make sure the answer is yes.

Thank you thank you, million thanks to SHARE EU ASEAN scholarship, i found a new family, and all the people were very kind and warm both for the locals and not locals. I learnt to be more independent (ofc) and improved my adapting skill. It was like a dream, i felt like it happened too fast like it finished in a blink of an eye, it was like i started new page of my life there haha. Everything’s very great and aligns with the tagline of the scholarship, “Make ASEAN your future” Well... I am interested in that ;)

I’m going to share some pics of my activities during my time there, cause like everybody said “pictures are worth a thousand words and speak what unspeakable”

the very first welcoming event for all exchange students

meet some share awardees and some are not hehe

welcoming event for exchange students in my faculty

my team!

we wore traditional clothe of Malaysia

first meet with the international officers in UKM

share awardees batch 2 from UNDIP in UKM

first time introducing Indonesia

Malaysian wedding with share awardees

invited in indonesian embassy

my favorite class, international business class

favorite lecturer, managerial accounting class

islamic banking class

entrepreneurship class

partner in islamic banking class, with locals!

i got 1st winner in islamic banking class

second time introducing Indonesia

performing saman (traditional dance of Indonesia)

crews with indonesian student association

third time introducing Indonesia

spending time with malaysian friends in Melaka

share awardees from Laos

share awardee from vietnam!

spotted friends from brunei, japan, turkey, vietnam, indonesia

spotted friends from japan, laos, indonesia, and bangladesh

our best friend, Kite from taiwan

farewell with bruneians:(

our bestfriend, Milli from China 

our best best buddies! meet zahi and azie, love u!

iftar together with international students

That’s all, for travel experiences (vietnam, penang, langkawi, etc) maybe you can check on my previous posts. I would like to say good luck and enjoy your exchange for all the share awardees batch 3! And also i encourage for you who havent tried this opportunity, i swear you need to at least try cause there’s still a chance for SHARE EU ASEAN Scholarship batch 4!

Feelin so grateful, Alhamdulillah makasih ya Allah, Thankyou to my parents who always support me, Thankyou SHARE, Thankyou for all of my friends during exchange i really love you and miss you guys! From this experience, i found another home, i’ll never forget this precious opportunity<3

see you on next post!

-afifahcm