TRAVEL AND RELATIONSHIPS

I Met a Girl Across the World: How One Month Changed My Entire Life

Summary of a 30-day cultural exchange in Malaysia

In the summer of last year, I was lucky to participate in the cultural exchange at Sunway University in Sunway City. My university partnered with another university further south in the U.K., and together, we journeyed across the world to the hot tropics of Malaysia!

While we were only there for one month, it is fair to say that it was the greatest time of my life, from the food I ate to the people I met. Also, if someone were to tell me I’d get my heart stolen by a woman on the other side of the world, I’d tell them I’m not crazy enough to let that happen.

Turns out I’m crazy. But we’ll get more into that later…

*All photo credits go to my good friend Iqbal who has let me use these images!

My Arrival in Malaysia

Our arrival was sudden. After having sat down for over fifteen hours and been on the move for a total of twenty-four hours! The arrival was still sudden, almost surreal.

We were greeted by our amazing ‘Buddies’, the students at Sunway University who undertook the role of being our tour guides who quickly turned into the greatest friends during our trip.

The most noticeable difference compared to the U.K. was the heat… with an average temperature soaring into the thirties and humidity that could make your own sweat!

My Orientation

Our orientation began the day after our arrival. We were given a brief rundown of how our weeks in Malaysia would be divided. Within the next few days, we’d be given a tour of the capital, Kuala Lumpur!

This is where the whole life-changing thing really kicked into gear.

Central Market

While our city tour was dense, hot, and location-filled, my most memorable location was Central Market, located in the Chinatown area of KL. Why, you might ask? This is where I met the heart thief.

I was browsing the anime keychain selection in a shop inside the market. I was with my friends and I was telling them how I thought this show was the greatest of all time. All of a sudden, a girl corrected me. She said it couldn’t be the greatest show.

She was one of the workers. I looked at her and smiled. From that moment, I couldn’t stop talking to her.

We spoke and spoke until our group had to leave the market. We were setting off to Chinatown. I asked her for her name. She told me hers, and I told her mine. That was it. I never got any of her social media or any way to contact her.

That was stupid of me. I said to her: Maybe I’ll see you around sometime. She replied: Maybe you will.

A large part of me hoped I would see her again. But that same large part knew that it was somewhat unrealistic. I told my friends about her and how I ended up buying two keychains from the shop.

They told me that her kindness was a sales tactic. I mean, it certainly could’ve been. But I told them that it wasn’t, that we genuinely enjoyed talking to each other.

For the next few weeks, she became known as The Market Girl. And the question on my mind was, would I ever see her again?

The Next Few Weeks

Another standout moment was the homestay, where we would live in the rural country for a weekend and share a home with a small family. This was the closest I had ever gotten to a raw village experience.

• The heat here was dry
• No showers — bucket washes only!
• Quiet all around
• An insight into the less developed parts of Malaysia.

The experience was great. Our kind hosts prepared a wealth of activities.

Here, we watched an expert make a leaf whistle.

While the process was fiddly and far too confusing for my small brain, it wasn’t long before everybody else had created a whistle and the entire village came to life with this rattling, insect-like sound.

Later that day, we made and flew kites!

That was short-lived fun until mine came crashing down and fell into a puddle… And later on — the main event of the day — we ventured to a paddy field and caught some mudfish (and safely returned them to the river afterward)!

I did not take into consideration the amount of mud… I unwisely wore my whitest trousers, and between catching several fish, I tried to keep them clean.

The rest of the trip varied from other great activities. Some of the more notable ones were on the day of our religion tour, where we traveled to the Federal Territory Mosque and the awesome Batu Caves.

I must also note that I had my fortune read at a Chinese temple.

Can someone please tell me whether this is good or not!? I’m unsure how I feel about ‘Slim hope of success in the present.’

At the top of the Batu Caves

Here I am, standing at the top of the Batu Caves. To get this picture, I had to run up 272 steps! in the rain! I was exhausted but it was worth the effort.

I thought I could sprint up the entire way without stopping. From the bottom, it looked possible, but that might’ve been due to my over-confidence. I gave out partway through the fourth flight of stairs.

While I can’t go on about all of the things that made this journey incredible, I must emphasize that it was the people who made it so great. Watching the thunderstorms with my friends was surreal — there were a lot of them! (both thunderstorms and friends) and I’m very grateful that it could all happen.

But before this story ends, I must call you back to one thing.

The Market Girl

I returned to the market to take back my heart.

I returned to Central Market with a friend on the final Wednesday (our departure was Saturday) and looked for the girl who sold me two keychains. At first, she was nowhere to be found inside her store.

This meant I had to ask her employer if she still worked there. She did! It was her lunch break. For a moment I thought I had missed my chance to ever see her again after I saw a ‘Work Wanted’ notice.

But after several laps around the market, I saw her! To my astonishment, she remembered my name.

I can tell you assuredly now that nothing between us had changed. It was like our conversation had picked up from where it dropped off.

But to sum things up, she asked me out…

And trust me, I was building up to asking her out.

In my last few days, we tried to spend as much time together as possible. We went out for food, and she showed me one of my favorite spots, Book Xcess, at RexKl.

So why was it so hard to say goodbye?

While it would take too long to list out all the details of what made our time together so great (although I might explore them in another story) I am certain that saying goodbye to her was the hardest goodbye I had to say on the whole trip.

How strange. While we met several times before my departure, our hours together totaled less than a day.

So why was it so hard to say goodbye?

We stayed with each other up until my final hour before I had to leave my residence. I said goodbye to her as she entered her taxi and watched as she drove off, turned the corner, and disappeared.

The walk back to my room was despair.

But it doesn’t end there. We have been apart for SEVEN MONTHS now, and we have spoken every. single. day.

We’ve navigated an 8-hour time difference, but not without its difficulties. There are some days where it feels like it just won’t work, and there are some days where we’re sitting on top of the world together.

I can only tell you that I hope it works.

My Planned Return

I plan to return to Malaysia in the summer. We made a promise that, whether we stop talking or things between us go horribly wrong, we will at some point see each other again.

This promise I intend to fulfil.

It won’t be long before summer rolls over and my university year is done. Then, I’ll be back to the place where I experienced the greatest time of my life.

How Everything Changed in My Life

I learned a lot from this trip, including about the richness of another culture I knew so little about.

• I learned about the beauty of the religions in Malaysia.
• I learned about the growing political and social economy.
• I learned about overcoming fears regarding socializing in new environments.

I learned the value of connections between myself and other people and how important it is to maintain these connections no matter the distance. They will always, always be valuable.

Thank you for reading my story!

I know this travel and love story differs from what I usually post, but I hope you enjoyed reading it if you made it this far!