MF-You(th)12

MF-You(th) MAGAZINE

Cross-Cultural Experience Issue 12-2019

FROM THE EDITOR MF-You(th) is a magazine created entirely by MFU students, for MFU students.

Our biannual issues feature various categories of content: short stories, experience sharing, poems, culture, etc. Within these categories, we publish articles about modern events that are interesting and exciting, because we focus on the issue that youths today care about.

Our generation serves as a catalyst of change, and MF-You(th) strives to support young artists and designers who spark the flame. Our contributors are college writers because who better to inspire the new generation than those who are part of it?

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Each MF-You(th) issue will have a unique theme to give our edition coherency – it is something to tie our articles, reviews, and photos together. The theme of this issue is “Cross-Cultural Experience.”

Therefore, our readers will enjoy and appreciate memorable cultural experience of MFU students.

We hope our readers enjoy this magazine as much as we enjoyed making it.

Best regards, Writers

MF-You(th) Team, Global Relations Division, Mae Fah Luang University

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Annie Vienna Faye L. Ocho Jirawadee Srichai Phone Lin Ishani Dilhara Goonasekara

Experience of Being an Exchange Student in Malaysia I am Phone Lin from Myanmar. Now I am studying the Logistics and Supply Chain Management programme in the School of Management. In the previous semester (1/2018), I went to Malaysia as an exchange student for one semester. I would like to share my experience when I was there.

Firstly, I was very proud to know that I was the first exchange student of my School who went to Malaysia. The name of the university that I went to study was University Putra Malaysia (UPM) which is located in Seri Kembangan, Selangor. It took around 30 minutes by car from the university to Kuala Lumpur and 1.5 hours by public transportation. The university provided the international orientation programme for the new international students and also organized the trip to Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Malacca. I stayed at the on-campus accommodation provided for the exchange students. It took me three minutes to walk to my faculty (Faculty of Economic and Management). At the undergraduate level, the faculty offers only three programmes which are accounting, economic, and business administration. At UPM, I enrolled in four courses (12 credits) and the credits could be transferred to my programme at MFU. Almost everyone in Malaysia can speak English, and it is one of the reasons why I chose to go to Malaysia.

For the activity, I joined many student clubs during my exchange period which were Choir club, Music club (learning guitar) and Chinese orchestra club (learning GuZheng).

My faculty also provided a homestay programme for us to stay in the village.

My roommate came from China. Because I am a Myanmar born Chinese, I communicated with my roommate in Chinese. As we know, there are three major ethnic group in Malaysia including Malay, Chinese and Indian races. Most of the local people thought that I was Malaysian Chinese and talked in Malay language to me.

There was no language barrier for me when I talked with my Malaysian Chinese friends.

As I am a Christian, I went to the Chinese church every Sunday. And I got to know more friends at the church.

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Guitar class (Chinese cultural club)

Homestay Programme in Sungai Besar

For meal, I had my meal at the faculty’s food court but the food court was closed on weekends. So, I had to go to the student dormitory area or outside the university to have my meal. It took me 45 minutes to walk to the nearest 7-11 store from my accommodation. In the campus, all the meals are halal food, so almost all my meals are chicken. Sometimes, I went outside the university and it took me 15 minutes to walk to there from my accommodation. There were many copy shops as well as Malaysian, Indian and Chinese restaurants. Nasi Lemak, the most famous Malaysian food, tasted weird for me at the first time but now I really miss it.

For academic aspect, it was quite different from MFU. Almost every week I had presentation and group assignment. Instead of mid-term exam, there are a first test and a second test. The final exam of all the accounting courses is worth 50 percent of overall score. They said this system was set by the Ministry of Higher Education in order to maintain the quality of the output. However, I thought it was quite difficult, for example, I studied management accounting 2 course at UPM and there were only four essay-type questions in the final exam. So, if you made a mistake in the first calculation, the subsequence answers would be wrong. From my perspective, MFU did better in this part but it depended on your major. Although most of my exams were multiplechoice questions, students still had to understand the main idea and concept of the course and it was less pressure. There were many German exchange students who took the same courses with me. We became friends and did the group assignment together.

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During the mid-term break, I traveled to George Town in Penang, the second largest city in Malaysia. It has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008.

In Penang, I met my Malaysian friends who had been exchange stdents at MFU. They took me to some local restaurants to taste the delicious street food. Before the final exam, I traveled alone to Singapore by a night bus, it was my first time in Singapore and also my first time to travel by a night bus.

In conclusion, it was my first time to go to Malaysia. I gained a great deal of new experiences from this exchange program. I got to know more people and gained a lot of new friends. It let me experienced a different lifestyle and culture. I had a chance to try the food I have never tried before. I saw many new things and it changed my way of thinking. There is a Chinese saying: "It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books." During my free time, I travelled to new places to explore the new culture and it helped me to relax. Although I knew that this exchange program could affect my grade or GPA (will decrease), I did not regret because it gave me invaluable experience. (My goal is to get 1st class honor for my bachelor’s degree.) Finally, I would like to thank my School (School of Management) and Mae Fah Luang University for providing this awesome programme for the students.

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With my Japanese friends

At mobility student farewell ceremony

Article by Phone Lin The School of Management

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Reunion with my Malaysian friends (Friends made in UMAP Summer Program in Japan 2017)

With “Strategic Management” course’s lecturer Dr. Mazlan and some classmates

Travelled to Singapore

With Choir Club friends

Homestay Program (Catching fish in mud activity)

Batu Ferringhi Beach in Penang Industry visit: To Shopee (Management Accounting course)

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Malaysian Traditional Clothes Singing Choir at the event.

(As a host of the choir competitive event)

After the last presentation (With Chinese, Garman and Nigerian) In KL downtown Penang Street Art

Reunion with my Malaysian friend (The middle one is the student who has been to MFU as an exchange student) Hiking with Christian friends

Learning GuZheng

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I am Jirawadee Srichai (Jib). I got a chance to be a liaison between the Office of the Civil Service Commission and the delegates from Brunei Darussalam in the Preparatory Meeting for the 20th ASEAN Cooperation on Civil Service Matters for three days.

It was my proud privilege and a great honour to be a part of this event. I got a chance to take care of two Brunei delegates which meant that I had to know about Islamic culture. Moreover, I had to search for the information about the dominant places in Chiang Rai Province

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especially, mosques, markets and the places that not far from downtown. I also had to know a detail about the places that the delegates would go in order to explain what they wanted to know.

Furthermore, my partner, our team, and I got the challenge in deciding where delegates should go as we got only two hours for leisure. The delegates had to arrive at the hotel on time for joining the next program. Therefore, I read the schedule before I went to bed, and planned the best place to visit with limited time.

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During this opportunity, I was really enjoying my duty. I took the delegates to a shop and a mosque for praying by myself. From this point, the delegates were kind to me and we could talk and share the experience with each other.

The delegates taught me to do new things and enjoy life outside the classroom.

When I get older and have many things to do, I will not have a chance to do what I want again.

In addition, the delegates bought me some durian every time that we went to the market. Although I got sick at that time, I had to eat durian. It was because they said that Brunei people ate durian all the time even they got sick or just woke up.

At this point, I could know the culture of Brunei Darussalam.

Lastly, I would like to thank you the International Division Affair and the Office of the Civil Service Commission for giving me this good opportunity. I also would like to thank our MFU liaison students who were kind and made me feel warm. I could say that the work went smoothly due to our teamwork.

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“A Modern Day Filipina’s Journey”

My name is Annie Vienna Faye L.

MFU International Affairs Division, and

Ocho. I was a fourth-year Bachelor’s

other divisions. These activities included

Degree student in Biology program from

an orientation program, a city tour, Thai

the Philippines when I participated in an

cooking classes, and festivals. All MFU

exchange program at Mae Fah Luang

faculty members and staff were very

University. I took Biotechnology program

accommodating and understanding. The

under the School of Science. My classroom

campus is very beautiful, and the sunsets

environment was very pleasant, and it

are breathtaking.

helped me to understand the lectures easily. I learned the advanced procedures concerning microbes and their numerous applications for both industrial and environmental uses. As an exchange student, I was able to participate in various cultural activities organized by the

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Perhaps, the best part about this

recognize my strengths and helped me

whole experience were the people I have

accept my weaknesses. They told me not to

met throughout my stay. As an exchange

worry when it came to failures, both in

student, I was made to stay at Lamduan 4

laboratory results and in life. They taught

dormitory, where I met three other

me not to fear failure as well as guided me

exchange Japanese students. One of them

to recognize mistakes and learned from

was my roommate. We often talked about

them.

our respective countries, and what we loved most about home. We talked about traveling, and our day-to-day happenings.

We would also talk to each other’s families and friends back home during video calls, and would bond over our love for food.

“I found magic in the souls I’ve met.

I was able to mingle with students from different countries, and our interactions introduced me to the wonder of cultural diversity. It enabled me to appreciate the differences in each culture, including My friends and instructors in class were also very friendly and kind. I will forever be grateful for how they helped me

my own. This experience have also shown me that there is no single “best” style of person and every person is unique.”

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This was an experience filled with

This whole experience was my

ups and downs, and unexpected twists.

grand adventure, and I believe I met

I am thankful for the friends who have

everyone for a reason. Either a blessing or

welcomed me, who have embraced me

a lesson, they all helped me become

into their circle, who had my back, and

a better person. I now know for certain

have my best interests at heart. I met

what I want in life and the type of person

people who have become dear to me, and

I want to be.

who have helped me grow as an individual. They opened my eyes to everything the world has to offer, and the potential I held within myself.

I am grateful to Mae Fah Luang University

for

granting

me

this

opportunity. To all the friends I’ve made in MFU, I thank you for being part of my story. I will always fondly look back on the memories we’ve made here. I believe we will see each other again, but for now I will work hard as I continue my journey into medical school. Until we meet again, at maraming maraming salamat!

Article by Annie Vienna Faye L. Ocho.

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Wish for Loy Krathong Here contains a floating basket Of flowers, bright and blooming, A lit solitary candle Stuck in the middle Hinders darkness, Awakening the spirit of happiness, And wishes of prosperity for life.

Now, it floats Along with the others Towards a distant place, As long as its light glows, To where only its shadow will know.

The eyes lay upon this scenery so peaceful, A hundred of reflections Of candle-light dancing In the great Mekong river!

And if ever you were close enough You’d even hear the waters whisper, “Be brave, keep carrying on…!”

Poem by Ishani Dilhara Goonasekara

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Mae Fah Luang University Chiang Rai, Thailand