P for Phyllis: The start of my exchange experience

Soooo. I am currently in the UK and have been here for three weeks, but believe me, reality has not completely sunk in yet. I still feel a weird sense of tingling sensation whenever I sit down and think (actually only really thinking about it when I'm typing this right now) of the fact that I am more than 6000 miles away from home and I am here on exchange.

I really can't believe the decision to go on exchange was made almost a year ago. I was actually just planning to stay in Malaysia for my whole degree life, or if I'm lucky enough, to transfer to Australia during my final year. My mind was set only to go to Australia (I don't know why, might be coz of my parents) but there was a sudden turn of events. One day, I decided to go for an exchange talk in my university coz it sounded interesting - and thinking that maybe I would change my mind.

...And I did! :D

Okay let me just list down the perks of going for exchange, all of which enticed me*:

1) You pay tuition fees locally

Going for an exchange (either for one semester or two semesters) technically means you're still with your home university, and paying towards them instead of your host university definitely cuts down expenses by a great deal. Of course, it depends on where you're heading to, but when you travel out of Malaysia, generally everywhere is going to be much more expensive. If you decide to go to the UK (like me), well, you're going to save A LOT of money on tuition fees!

2) Your grades won't be affected

YES! This is the best news ever, something which I believe every student wants to hear :P Basically, you enrol in the units/modules that are offered by your home university first, and after confirming with your course manager the units/modules that you will be doing in your host university, the original units/modules codes will be changed to the exchange codes. Your academic transcript will then state that you have gone for exchange during this period, without any grades shown. In other words, your GPA is locked (:D !!!).

3) You get a travel grant

Once you're approved for exchange, you will automatically be entitled to a travel grant of RM10,000 per semester (note that this does not apply for exchange to Australia). It might not be a lot considering that you have to pay your flight tickets, accommodation, and living expenses, but hey who doesn't want free money? Since I'll be here for two semesters, I would get a total of RM20,000 which just about cover my accommodation for 10 months.

4) You experience a completely different culture

The best thing about going for exchange is that you get to travel to a whole new place, meet people from a different variety of cultural backgrounds, and experience living life not the way you're used to. Going for exchange allows more freedom and flexibility to travel because it places less importance on studies - you get to discover and learn new things in an exciting way. Travelling to a foreign country will undoubtedly expand your horizons, make you look at life in a different perspective, and shape you into becoming an better person (hopefully!).

*I study in Monash University Malaysia thus some information may differ from your university.

Of course, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention the crazy amount of paperwork that I have to do to secure my place. But everything will be worth it when you're finally living the exchange life - which was what I kept reminding myself whenever I was complaining about the forms that I had to fill in and personal statements that I had to write. I am SO glad those days are over!

After this post, I will start updating on what I've been doing since I left my.....bed at 5am on September 11. So stay tuned - and please be patient while you're at it, hehe. Cheers! :)

Meanwhile....here are some photos from the week before I left.

Farewell lunch on Sunday with the family at Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf in Bangsar Village. Yessss finally got to try this trendy restaurant! We ordered eggs benedict, spaghetti with bacon (called the wolf's favourite), and BBQ ribs. Mmmhmm pure deliciousness.

Then we embraced the hipster culture of having coffee at Artisan Coffee Bar. Had a cup of rich mocha with pretty coffee art :D

At night we went to Kanna Curry House in SS17 for my farewell dinner! I have always wanted to try the famous banana leaf rice here but my excitement dissipated when FAKE banana leaves were served...... Sigh, must authentic banana leaf rice and I be separated forever? But ok aside from the fake banana leaf, everything was up to expectations. Still can't get over the fact that they cheated my feelings though.

On Monday evening, I went to uni to reunite with my dumplings :') We talked about university and life and crap, and then sat there in the quietness of the library trying to absorb the fact that I'm leaving just three days after and we won't be seeing one another for....one and a half years T____T Everything was just so surreal. The horrible experience of separation proved that we had gone through SO MUCH in just one semester :') And the fact that we couldn't bear to leave the place - even though we had to - still puts a smile to my face whenever I think about that special moment. #clingydumplingsforever

Our last-minute dumpling pose, credits to Esfern! :'D

So...hard...to...leave....

Group hug! Yes we took the photo ourselves HAHAHAHAHAHA forgive us for our sampat moment :')

After that I had dinner with the worship team. Started and ended our journey together at Restaurant 88 in OUG :')

On Tuesday night, I went for a farewell dinner with some of my CG members at Nando's. I can never get tired of Nando's hehehe. And they surprised me with cake! So touched :')

My mom made her special tau fu fah for me to enjoy before I left :') It's seriously the BEST tau fu fah in the world; made from secret recipe passed down from generations :P