Similarities and Differences between UWEC Students and Students in Malaysia

Just so you guys know, I am in the States for approximately two months. Fall semester has started last week. I am now officially entered into my courses with American classmates. It is slightly different with summer program that I had last two months. The classroom atmosphere now is more serious as compared to the summer program. For instance, Professor will close the door when the class begins. It is a signal to get attention of all the students in order to pay attention and get ready for the class.

After my first week in the class, I found some similarities and differences between UWEC Students and Malaysian Students. I am glad that I had experienced two different College lives in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Now, I am in the States as an exchange student.

The other similarity is both of the students can give respond or answer questions with just sitting on their seats. During high school, students need to stand up to answer questions. In University, we do not practice so. Unless they are requested by Professor to stand up and share their points of view.

I believe differences are more than the similarities. For the differences, majority of American students like to ride their bicycle to their class. There is a lot of bicycle parking racks around the campus. In contrast, students in Malaysia do not like to ride bicycle. They prefer to go to college by car. Even they have to go from one place to another place which is within the campus, they get there by car too. This is because the weather in Malaysia is extremely hot.

On top of that, majority American students are more active in outdoor activities, whereas Malaysian students are more passive. They will not put much commitment on co-curricular. This is because Malaysian education system is more exams oriented.

In Malaysia, we pay for tuition fees and we expect to be "spoon feeding" by lecturers. We go to class unprepared and get lecture's notes in the lecture. Now, I need to print out lecture notes, and go to class with preparation. But the best thing is the longest class duration is only 1hour and 15minutes. In Malaysia, we have 3hours lecture (twice a week), and 2hours tutorial for 5 credits subject.

To sum up, these are all the similarities and differences that I noticed during my first week of class in the United States. As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, I will try my best to get myself adapted to their styles and culture.