Hello Everyone!
Tuesday February 11, 2014, we arrived in Penang, Malaysia at
8:30am, which was roughly 10:30pm on February 10th Central Standard Time (we are 14 hours ahead of you!). At the airport we were greeted by Universiti Sains Malaysia staff who were there to pick us up and take us to campus
for the first time! They introduced themselves and gave us goodie bags filled with handy USM
info such as the bus routes, campus maps, USM t-shirts and bedding.
As we traveled by car to USM, I
couldn’t help but notice the drastic change in which being half way across the
country had on traffic. As we bustled
through the streets, people were coming from everywhere (the driving here was
vastly different from that of typical American driving). Motorcycles/Mopeds
pretty much own the road. They drive in the middle of the diverging lanes, on the side of the median and basically cut you off when ever they chose. Cars are all over the place; driving
through the middle of lines and never using their blinker to merge. Ultimately, driving is so much more dangerous
than back home. Another difference I saw
was the climate! There were beautiful and vibrant palm trees just about
everywhere we looked. Besides that, you could feel the hot Malaysian air hit
you. The average temperature in Malaysia is 85 degrees excluding humidity year round
(it fluctuates between 80 and 90 degrees all day
long).
When we got to USM, we were
immediately taken to our residencies and given allotted time to shower, change
and chill before starting our first day of orientation. The shower was much needed after
traveling non-stop for over 48 hours. At 11:30am we traveled to the USM
exchange international center where we further introduced to the administrative staff assisting our study abroad experience for the next 4 months. We met Jumizah Samsudin, an administrative staff member who had a very defined presence as she held the room with her voice. She explained her love of food and Penang. We also met Ajinder Kaur the leader of our study
abroad experience and Deputy Registrar at USM. She wholeheartedly addressed the fact that she wanted us to
have the best time at USM. Then they served us what they called a “light
Malaysian meal” of fried rice and fruit - IT WAS GOOD!! We also were able to
collect 400 ringgits which is roughly $130 American dollars (1 American dollar
is about 3.5 ringgits in Malaysia) for food!
Next, we
headed to the QueensBay Mall to pick any other essentials we needed such as
hangers, detergent, etc. While I was there, I couldn’t help but compare their
mall to the ones back home. They were so incredibly similar. Store after store,
I was beginning to see how modernized (or westernized) the culture of Malaysia was relative to the United States. But actually, they had a McDonalds,
Burger King, Auntie Anne’s, Nike Store, etc. When we left around 4:30pm, we
were told that we’d have to fend for ourselves for dinner, which meant
exploring Penang. As we walked down
about 4 flights of stairs (yes, we live on a hill just like at GAC) to get to
the main road, we found a USM bus which we thought could take us off campus
to Georgetown in order to eat. As the bus came to a stop, another student
advised us that we were on the wrong bus and that the right one was just over the
bridge. So we got off, went up 2 flights of stairs and walked across the
bridge. On the second bus, we thought this was for sure the bus that’d take us
to our preferred destination (but we were so wrong!). The bus turned out to only
loop around campus. So after we wasted a good hour, we decided to go to a
restaurant just across the bridge.
At the
restaurant, 3 of us ordered hot dog and fries (little did I know their hot dogs were vastly different). The hot dog was covered with mustard, cucumbers,
tomatoes, what tasted and looked like sweet and sour sauce, and it was wrapped
in an egg. I tried the “deluxe” hot dog
and I was not feeling it. When we
finally got back to the dorms, it was about 7:30pm. After showering, brushing
my teeth and organizing my room, I was ready for bed!!
What an eventful first day I had, with its ups and downs! At this point, there is so much I know I could be fearful, but I am so incredibly looking forward to what this journey may bring me! Life is swell!
To keep updated about my
Semester in Malaysia: Living Diversity, make sure to follow my blog for routine
updates, pictures, and stories about this journey!! Thank you for reading!
Lots of love & well wishes to everyone back home!
Hales
*some pictures from day one*
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| My beautiful desk has so much love from back home :) |
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| Japanese Toilet.. hmmm! |
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