Our trip has ended. We have flown home. We have made some great relationships, friendships, and connections. I think its safe to say that none of us are going to forget anything about this trip anytime soon. When we first arrived in Malaysia, we were asked to sit with a UTM student on the bus ride back to the hotel. I sat with Nina. We had a simple fast get to know you conversation on the way to Scholars Inn at UTM. I learned a lot about her but not as much as I would in the weeks to fallow. After we got checked into the hotel, we mostly went our separate ways for the night. This was the beginning of a relationship we didn’t even know was going to become what it was.
After we had our first day of structured adventures, we had a few hours of free time during the evening. It wasn’t going to get dark for several more hours so some of us went on a bike ride with some of the other students. We had no idea where we were going. Some of us also learned to ride a bike, cough Thomas cough. We rode the bikes around campus for those hours before dark and then walked back. Those who went bike riding got to know each other pretty well but there was still so much that we were going to learn about each other in the day and weeks that were yet to come.
Each trip has a moment that stands out to someone for some reason. For me this was when we spontaneously went to a waterfall that was about an hour or so away from the UTM campus in JB. This waterfall was beautiful. Several of our Malaysian students could not swim and nether could Thomas. There was a waterslide that was built into this area around the waterfall. Everyone took a trip down this slide at least once, including everyone who couldn’t swim. This trip was probably the most memorable to me because of the fact everyone there literally turreted us with their lives. We also formed a train of everyone and attempted to go down the slide. Really that was just a hot mess and worked nowhere close to how anyone imagined or pictured. We all made it down the slide eventually, some just faster than others. After spending a few hours at the waterfall we headed back to campus. We also had the brilliant idea to get some pizza on the way home for super. We had Huzaimi order us 10 pizzas, five of those being cheese. We made it back to Scholars Inn with all of the pizzas, moved some furniture between rooms so there was room for everyone to sit and then opened the pizzas. Opening the boxes we quickly discovered that there were not five cheese pizzas. But all of them had cheese! We all happily ate the pizzas even though there was not cheese pizza. We also spent several hours just talking about this trip and getting to know each other. Not only did we bond over food but we also did with music and dancing. We taught the Malaysian students how to do Cotton Eyed Joe and a few other dances and they taught us some killer dance moves. Full credit goes to Hanif.
Though this trip there were so many great bonding moments and each persons had their won that really stuck out to them. I am forever going to remember so many details from this trip and all of the people. I cannot thank anyone enough for this trip and I also cannot thank our Malaysian friends enough for being there for us. This whole trip went so fast and it was a great experience. I think we will always be asking for five more minutes with everyone that was there during this trip.
Im crying 😭😭