Hi, I am Wishnu Suaztawan, a full-time student at SEAA, UNITBV, from Indonesia. First of all, I would like to congratulate you for being selected as an Erasmus exchange student to represent Transilvania University of Brasov.
Here I will tell you a little about my experience as an Erasmus student in Asia. Maybe a lot of you don’t know that Erasmus at UNITBV can also choose a country outside of Europe. The country I chose is the one neighboring my home country, Indonesia.
Yes, Malaysia. This country is extraordinary there are so many skyscrapers here. ☺
The only thing I knew about this country before I came was the capital, Kuala Lumpur. In this city, I will be doing my Erasmus program, at a university which is located right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur City.
Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia has a lot of mixed races, namely Malays, Chinese, and Indians. This country has an area of 329,847 km2.
The university that cooperates with UNITBV is Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL). Malaysia’s national currency is the Malaysian Ringgit, which has an exchange rate similar to the Romanian Leu. Even though they have almost the same exchange rate, the price of food here is very cheap; to get one large and delicious meal menu, you only need to spend RM5–RM10, or 5-RON10 RON. It’s very cheap, isn’t it?
How do I feel about this country?
The people here are friendly, especially the Malays. The teachers understood that I’m not Malaysian, they always paid attention to me when I didn’t understand their language, Malay, and guided me as much as they could. They also liked to tell me about Malaysian culture. My colleagues in class were very friendly; they invited me to eat together and invited me to go around town in their car.
Thinking now about the course and the amount of the course material, however, I would argue that it is more difficult to pass with a good grade in Romania than it is to get a good grade in Erasmus at UniKL. I also talked to other Erasmus colleagues in other countries, and they also had the same opinion that in Romania it is more difficult to get good grades.
Exploring Malaysia’s Thriving Economy, Affordable Delights, and Accommodation Challenges: A Must-Read for Erasmus Adventurers
Another aspect that I can say is that Malaysia is a country with a fairly good, stable economy that is also very cheap. Unfortunately for us, cheap housing is very difficult to find, especially if we are not Muslims and are from outside Malaysia. But you don’t need to worry, the University will send you the list of apartments, although these are not really cheap.
One tip I can give regarding accommodation is that the cheapest are the public apartments filled with either Chinese or Indians, but for that, you should register and do a lot of research early as it gets very crowded.
In countries where the population prefers Muslims to occupy their places, demand is high, and accommodation places are quite small. Regarding the food, however, I can say that you have a chance to eat meals at street food vendors, at good prices. The food is excellent, I recommend it wholeheartedly for its variety and the UniKL for its really nice staff members.