Sunday, February 06, 2005

# A dash of local feel

During the stay in Scotland with the McInnes family, I enjoyed the warmth of the local family. It was enjoyable chatting with the family besides warm fireplace, learning about their culture and traditions, listening to amusing stories, and sharing our own cultural practices too. I still remembered Martiza and I spent the whole night chatting to the family about everything, and Bill and Andrea even showed us the traditional Scottish dance!

We, as overseas students, can always have a chance to experience local family life and get to know local people, either through visits to friends’ house, or participating programs such as the Host Family Program. I have seen many of my seniors going, and going again, to visit their host families, and I felt fortunate to have the chances to visit local families too. By staying a few days at their home, we can really notice many differences between our homes and theirs, make some cute mistakes and discoveries in the process, and have a good laugh together and learnt from each other. I especially enjoy Christmas stay as we always have a chance to join the midnight mass, Christmas dinner and of course, the exchange of presents under the Christmas tree!

Sometimes Malaysian students tend to cluster among themselves during festive seasons. This was a good way to celebrate together and stay united together, but perhaps sometimes we can also try to get some local feel of the festive seasons and get to know the local culture too?

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