My First Month at UM: What Actually Helped

Moving to a new country for university is one of those decisions that sounds like an amazing idea at first and then becomes very real the moment you're standing in that country, in an unfamiliar place trying to figure out where everything is. Having lived across a few different countries before Malaysia, I wasn't walking into this completely blind. But being familiar with the process of moving countries doesn't make any particular move frictionless. It just means you have an idea of what the friction will feel like.

Getting a head start

I got lucky early. Within the first few days I'd already met a group of people, which took the edge off considerably. A lot of that came down to an international student conference during my first week. A massive hall full of international students, some new and some who were already familiar with the country. I left with a few new contacts and some faces I'll actually recognize on campus the next day, which is more than most people get in week one. If there's anything like that running when you arrive, just go. It might just be the best decision you ever make.

The campus

UM is green in a way I wasn't prepared for. It basically sits in the middle of a forest, which sounds great until you're a new student trying to find the right building before an 8am class, or trying to avoid the monkeys that are actively hunting you down for your lunch. Some parts of campus feel like they were designed specifically to disorient you. I spent a solid week or two just trying to understand what's going on, and even now I'm still discovering parts of campus I haven't seen before

Food and heat

The heat was fine. I'd dealt with it before, but for others the hot and humid weather might be a bit shocking at first. The food was a different thing entirely. Not bad, just overwhelming. Standing in front of a mamak with over thirty options that you don't fully recognise yet makes deciding what to eat so much more stressful than it should be. After a while you figure out what you like and the whole thing gets easier. But early on it was a lot.

The actual adjustment

You find your way around, you meet people, you figure out where things are, and then you realize the actual adjustment hasn't even started yet. University moves at a fast pace and doesn't slow down for you to catch up. No one is checking in, no one is following up, and managing your own time is a lot harder in practice than it sounds. In my case, having moved around a lot before helped me adjust a bit faster, but the academic independence was a different thing entirely. What ended up working was just building a routine and sticking to it. Once the days had some structure, everything else got easier. Not the most interesting advice, but it's what actually worked. Malaysia has a lot to take in at first. Most of it makes sense eventually.