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This was the second link with the BUU students but we still had problem in connecting the video with them. In this session we talked about Family and tradition. We exchanged many thoughts about our tradition although some of the words spoken wasn't loud and clear. It was fun and exciting to learn more about the culture of others

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This is our first session together with the BUU students. I was very excited to meet my partner. As all the first links, we had some trouble in starting a conversation. Maybe, its because its our first meeting However, we had major connection problem and we couldn't talk much to them. We created a Whatsapp and Wechat group for further updates. My partners name was Olivia. I manage to get her number through the Whatsapp group and we discussed about our life and college lifestyle. I learned their class timetable wasn't as packed as ours in Malaysia. It was very exciting to meet friends from other country and with those that doesn't share the first language as ours.

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This is our last session together with the BUU Students. At the end of each link, we were suppose to present about a certain topic of our choice together with my partner. Since I was still in UK for my exchange programme, I was just able to send my slides to my partner Olivia in China. I was very thankful because she understood my situation and was willing to help me sort out the other slides.

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For this link, we were suppose to discuss about stereotype and prejudices. Anyhow, I wasn't able to join the discussion with my partner as I followed Dr.Azza to United Kingdom for a cultural exchange programme together with another friend of mine. Due to time difference, I experienced trouble in communicating my partner. I had to burn some extra hours of my sleeping time to get all this job done but that;s how we got to learn about each others way of living.

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On this third session, we experienced the same internet connection. We were instructed to communicate with our respective partners through whatsapp or wechat. We talked about the meaning of life and religion on our own respective ways. I learned many of the Chinese in China practices atheism. Its a bit surprising as this culture is way different than the Malaysian Chinese. We exchanged many ideas about our culture which fascinates both of us.

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This is the last link between UMT and BUU. For this link, we are required to present our collaborative project. Both of us chose the title "Life at 35" as our presentation title. However, the audio system is always be a problem for both sides and we barely able to hear their presentation and vice versa. However, from our presentation, i found out that what Mist want when she reached 35 is mostly similar to what i want when i reached 35, just a few difference, which is I wish to travel to Mecca to perform pilgrim while Mist want to travel aound the world to find the best diving spots to dive. As the conclusion, I found out the link with BUU is much more intersting since i got many experience and learnt the new too from the other side, which is Mist.

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For this link, the title given is about stereotype and prejudice. Mist told me that she have a stereotype of believing Korean people love to eat pickle. However, the real reason for why she saying like that is unknown.I also shared my stereotype which is Malaysian people always late, and she said although her friend that is not a Malaysian, her friend always late come to class. From my opinion, this probably because of we just a human and the stereotype can be for anyone although they are from the different culture. Both of us also receive the task of collaborative project which need to be present in the next link.

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The title that discussed for this time link is about meaning of life and religion. Basically, we just exchange about our believe in God such as Muslim believe the existence of Allah as the only God, while Mist is a Buddhist and she believe her god and the rule that she must follow. I also shared about the rule of Islam that we must obey. Our wishes for life is normally about to be always happy and life and can get a peaceful after passed away.

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For the second link, supposedly we are talking and discussing about the family with my partner,Mist. However, i cannot make it to the campus since i stuck in the heavy rain and me and my partner just have the conversation via the Whatsapp. Instead of taking about family, we started to talk about weather in Beijing and Malaysia since China is having winter season. she also advise

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It is the first link with foreign university after a quite long time not having any links with any universities. During this link, we introduced ourselves to each other by having a brief self introduction in front of the video camera. However, there are sound problem that lead to difficulty to have a better hearing on the conversations that going on. The first link is quite fun as some of us that know to speak Chinese speak to the China partners using that language. We also developed another method of having conversation to overcome the poor quality of sound produced when having the conversation, which is we chatting via the WeChat application and some of us do use the Whatsapp application.

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For the Ecuador link, there are no link ever occur , probably due to the technical problem. The only collaborative project is the Cook Book Project

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This is the last link with the American partners. For this link, we are presenting the collaborative projects. Me, and my partner choose the "Honor" as the topic to be discussed. It is found out that the honor from the American perspective is not much different from the Malaysian perspective. The different is the respect towards the parents that not mentioned by my partner, Roylanda. I hope i can meet the American people in future

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After few classes was cancelled due to hurricane, finally we able to meet them back. For this link, the title discussed was the meaning of life and religions. For this topic there are huge contradiction between the American partners and the Malaysian partners about this topic. This because all of the Malaysian partner have their own believe and religion while some of the American partners have no religion. When come to meaning of life, some of the Americans partners said that their life is to have fun, while the Malaysian partners somehow have clear vision of their meaning of life especially for Muslims

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We are informed that the class is cancelled as East Carolina is having a hurricane which hindering them from going outside their house and it also caused flood that unable them to move in and out of the city

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For this link, i was not around since i was involved with my program field work. Supposedly, i will having a writing chat with my partner which will discuss about the cultures and festivals that they are celebrating in US.

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It our second link with the American partner, for this time our class is divided into two groups, 1 group having conversation via typing to each other, while the other group continue to have conversation via the life video streaming. The topic that discussed for this link is about family. We exchange our opinion about family to each other and found out that American people somehow prefer to life alone and they began to move out the house at the age of 25 years old. For this link, some of us able to continue the conversation without lacking of questions to ask since they are more prepared than the link before.  This quite different from us as Malaysian will stay with their parents. We also discuss about culture they are having in America or the events that they celebrate. There are slight different for the occasions that the American partner celebrate and the occasions that Malaysian partner celebrate since the American partners celebrate mainly on christian related event such as Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving Day while Malaysian partners celebrate occasions from different races.

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It is the first time i met with Americans people, before this , I just can see them in the movies or the the television. During the first link, everyone quite awkward and most of us keep lost of questions to ask to the American partner, possibly because of this is the first experience to have direct conversation with the foreign people. This also the i get introduced to my American partner called Roylanda. Beside introducing our self to each other, we also have discussed about college life. The American partner quite stunned our fees for studying at Malaysian universities especially UMT is very low compared to ECU. We also found out that they are entering universities at lower age which is at 18 years old and they are come from the same program. However, their social life there is quite high since they drink for almost every week since the bar is just a stone throw away from their campus, compared to Malaysia, these social life is very low especially at rural area such as in Kuala Terengganu which is there are no bar or pubs at all.

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We had our last session with our China partner. We had presented our collaborative project too. In our presentation, we even included the similarities and differences between us. Since, my partner didn't feeling well, she didn't attend the class. So, I have to present the whole presentation slides on my own. From this session, I able to learn about culture, religion, traditions and lifestyles of people in China. I enjoyed a lot during this class. Since, it's our last class, I definitely going to miss them especially my China partner Tabitha.

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This time we had discussed about our collabrative project. We chose a topic out of 10 for our presentation. Our presentation's topic is describe your life at 35. I shared about my opinion and she shared about hers as well. After that, we talked about the similarities and differences between us. We have a lots of differences between us but still we share a good bond. Although, we never met each other and we don't know each other much, but still we make a good friendship. I think she is really friendly. On this session, we kept on asking our likes and dislikes, our opinion on stereotypes and prejudice. I felt that she is quite attracted towards Malaysian's culture. She even told me that, she want to visit Malaysia as it is a unique country

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On our third chat session, we talked about our culture and religion. Due to the poor network connection, our lecturer allowed us to communicate via whatsapp. We feel so happy as we can have our personal chats. On the culture and religion topic, we talked about our cultures, belief, traditional festivals and etc. Tabitha and her family celebrate spring festival. She doesn't know much about her culture as she doesn't have any religion. I told her about my culture and traditions and I even sent her pictures about my cultures. She impressed with my cultures especially Indian wedding tradition.

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Today I have my second chat session with my partner. We discussed about our family and culture. My partner told me about her family members and friends. She also told me about her favourite spot which is netball. She seems so interested to chat with me.Tabitha has two elder brothers. Since, she is studying in college, she stay far away from her family. She is doing her degree in business and she is just 19 years old. She said that she likes bollywood movies and she likes Indian culture too. I feel great to have such a nice parner like her.

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Finally we had our first chat session with China for the first time. We were quite excited to have chat session after so long time as we didn't have any chat session with Equador due to some technical problems. When we had our first chat session with them, it was quite boring because due to some problems, we can't hear them clearly and I think they also can't hear us as well. I met my partner Tabitha and she is looks cute and kind. She introduced herself about her college, age and studies. I found that students from China face some difficulty to talk in English as most of the time they talk in Mandarin.

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Thanks GOD finally last Global Understanding classes in this semester and we return to the "special class room". Last meeting with China for presentation and I think the presentation is quite meaningless [facepalm] because we can say that like no sound at all from the speaker=.='''!. I'm glad to meet China students and from that I'm quite grateful and thank God that HE let me born as Malaysian. I'll keep in touch with China's people by wechat. That's all, thank you^^

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Today's topic is life and religions
Same as usual, we exchange our thoughts about life and religion.

Both of us found similarities in our thought about life. Both of us wish to have a happy life and our family will be always healthy and safe.

However, there is differences in the topic about religion. Hui does not have any religion while I am a Christian. She said she trust that  she was destiny to have no religion because something strange happen on her when she prayed in a temple  when she was a child. She believes that it was a abnormal phenomena and there is something blocks her from the religion. Hmm. This conversation is quite interesting to me.

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Today is our second link.
Still, we cannot hear them. However, I got my China partner's whatsapp and we actually talk there.

In our conversation, we talked about our family and cultural traditions. I found that although both of us are Chinese, we have differences among us. For example, I can speak mandrin and cantonese with my family while she speaks mandrin and tang shan dialect with her family. I never heard this dialect before so i felt pretty curious about it.

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This is our first link with China.
I felt happy because I can understand their Chinese conversation. However, due to technical problem, we hardly listen to each other.

However, I am glad to meet my China partner whose name is Hui. I hope I can have a nice chat with her since we do not have language problem.

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Today and 2 days ago (Tuesday), I and my partner discussed about stereotypes and prejudice. I do share alot than Alice maybe because Alice don't have much idea about it. According to Alice, she think that maybe different places and countries will having different cultures and life background, so that the stereotypes exist. For example, in China some of the people will think that the man in Dong Bei are rude to their wife. Alice does not think about that fit into that stereotypes or not. Alice think that the stereotypes by her were the conclusion according to the norm in some area. It can be either positive or negative but Alice don't always think about it and she just ignore it. Regarding the stereotype about Malaysia, maybe because alot of people late coming for the Global Understanding classes, Alice think that Malaysian don't have time concept.

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Meaning of life and religion? What is the meaning of life and religion? Today I had dicussed with my partner regarding this topic. Besides my partner Alice is a atheism, I can concluded that the whole class of International Business were atheism which is don't have religion. Before that, I had searching online regarding. Since China is  communism, the people of China are strictly controlled by the government, to control the overpopulation, one child policy carry out, and the peoples of China actually don't have freedom of religion, the religious activity are fully control by the Party Communist leading by Xi JingPing. Atheism is actually encouraged by communist and since so long this type of praticing, the generation of China consider this as a norm for them. I'm feel very sad for them and glad that I born in Malaysia. I can't do anything, what I can do just pray for them(all this is my opinion).
In China that is not religious holiday but according to Alice she will celebrated Christmas in China. Christmas is quite popular in China. Meaning of life for Alice is can do whatever she likes follow her heart, be a kind person, to live a happy with her family and help the needy. Besides, Alice don't believe that God and after life does exist.

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Today the topic covered was family and cutural traditions. Alice was the only girl in her family, she's the oldest sister and got 2 brothers. Now she stay in dorm and in the dorm got alot of people from different province . Alice's family in Guang Dong and every week Alice will make a call to her family. If during long semester break or holiday Alice will returned to her hometown which is in Guang Dong. Alice stated that their family like to having meal together, watched TV,  and chatting. Their favourite food is hotpot especially the spicy one. One thing that I feel that quite  odd was the festival that Alice like the most is mid-autumun but not Chinese New Year @@. In Alice's family they just using mandarin to communicate. One more time to thank GOD that I born in Malaysia. In my family as usual, Malaysian mah, Bahasa Campur (Malay, Chinese, English) XD. Some special customs and traditions that Alice's family doing like dressed new clothes during Chinese New Year, pasted anthithetical couplet in their house during Chinese New Year.

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Today is our first meeting with China after Ecuador which is UDPE but unfortunately we never meet Ecuador at all maybe them don't know how to read the time table XD. The video call with China is very poor which is the sound  and the screen resolution not clear at all. They can't get what we talking about. So, we had decided to use wechat to chat with them. Most of the content I get it when during my free time by Whatsapp and Wechating with my partners. Actually I'm think and feel that by individuality (chatting or online calling) can get more information form the international collaborative partner. One of my partner which is Alice (Fan Xiao Ying-chinese name) come Guang Dong but studying in Beijing. They are all from the same courses which is International Business (something like this I translate from chinese XD), first year university students. Alice is 20 years old. During chatting, actually my partner is quite shock and feel amazing about my mandarin because I can understand all the chinese and this cause I have few added partners for China XD(Alice told their friends I could understand 3 languages). In China, the peoples are not allowed to use Facebook, Instagram and etc (regarding America), all these social apps or social network are banned by the government of China but the can use a apps called VPN to trepass the blocking and using this apps or social network. Before meeting with us (Malaysia), they using facebook to meet with America partner. Most of them using Weibo and wechat. They guys also can't use google but replace by baidu, bing and etc. My partner told me actually they are not very understand and clear what we say during the video chatting but for avoid awkward situation, they just answer yes XD. I'm actually feel that the China schooling system in university also control by the Party Communist which is the government of China. My partner and their friends now are university's student already but yet they still having self revision classes which is compulsory for all International Business student to attend and attendence is taken. Morning from 7am to 8.30am, night from 6pm to 7.30pm. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (Tuesday and Thursday Global Understanding Classes). Besides, every students compulsory to stay in dorm until final year. One room for 10persons, inside the room have double decker, table, chair, and some cupboard, it's quite narrow. Actually I'm glad born in Malaysia as a Malaysian. I didn't feel that human right exist in China. 11pm the electricity will automatically cut off for the dorm besides the toilet light didn't cut off. The electricity will recover at 6am. Their classes as usual from Monday to Friday. During weekend Saturday and Sunday they are free to do anything them like, like going back home. For Alice, during weekend she didn't going back because is quite far for her. 2000++ km and 3 hours flight to back home. But got one thing I like for BUU is the Wifi! The Wifi is 100% coverage in BUU and the speed is superfast! Most important is

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29 /12/16
The network connection was still in poor condition and the monsoon season still in happening.
Culture and Religion
today's new view to China as most of the new generation of China people don't have religion that was out of my expectation and most of them not like Malaysian Chinese have specific family background(hakka, hokkien,cantonese) for China that differentiation they people based on demographic as (sichuan, beijing,shanghai, and so on ) they talk in chinese but different in pronounce. Most of them are the only child in family due to goverment policies.
The next time of our conversation will be though our own network , that sound like will be more fun for the next link with china

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29/11/16
After the last section presentation with American partner finally for the long time waiting to welcome our second country to be meet China due to technique problem we can't have our link session with ecudor  partner.
For the first day of the link section with China, we facing the monsoon season at Kuala terengganu at the time. Heavily rainning cause our network line being poor in connection but we still excited to start our first link with china friends.
That 's my big surprise that the China partner all just around 18 and 19 years old but already in University. All them are came from same course of they campus (International business)from Business college  of Beijing Union University. Besides that i believe that was a big surprise for the China part that we have that much of different race in Malaysia even Chinese and Chinese can understand Mandarin and speaking well in it.

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Group Presentation.

I was actually feeling sad today because it was the last day we had our link session with the American friends. I met with Lucy in class finally. It was the first time I met with her. I was glad because we actually could work together although we didnt chat or talk in class at all.

The topic we chosen was independence. Although we are from different countries, Lucy and I had almost the same opinion about independent which was related to freedom and maturity.

The link between us ended today. I felt a little disappointed because I did not have much chance to get know with Lucy. No matter how, she is still special to me because she is my first American friend.

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We finally came back to the class after the class cancelled for a week because of the hurricane in US.

Lucy was absent again today. She told me that she was too sick to go to class. So I shared the same chatbox with Perumal and her partner. As there was some technical problem happened at the beginning of the class, we only managed to have a short and simple chatting session.

In this chatting session, we shared our thoughts about the purpose of our life and religion. I found that three of us shared the same purpose of life which we hoped we were strong enough in terms of financially and we hoped we can live happily with our family in the rest our life.

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Hurricane.

After I got instructions from Dr. Azza about the disaster, I emailed my partner about the hurricane. Unfortunately, my partner didnt reply me until 2 weeks later.

After I finally reached Lucy, she said the hurricane was a disaster to them. The hurricane made everything seemed fragile. Broken roads, fallen lamp post, fallen trees could be seen everywhere. And their college was closed for almost two weeks. She said I was so sweet and kind because I prayed for their needs and safety during the hard period. Luckily, she and her family were safe and sound.

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It was the day for collaborative project between us UMT students and ECU students. My partner and I decided to discuss about definition of power in this project. My partner was absent again and I have to complete the presentation by my own. It was kinda sad for not getting to meet up with my partner on the last session:(

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After the hurricane and cancelled class for a week, finally we get to meet up with our foreign partners again. As usual, my partner Danielle was absent. Topic of the day was about life and religion. The chatting session was kinda short and simple. Little information was exchanged between us as we do not receive many questions from each other.

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According to Danielle, the hurricane was devastating. Her housing area and uni campus were flooded and they have to cancel their class for a week. However I am glad that Danielle and her family were safe from the hurricane.

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Last session with American friends. We presented our partner's point of view on certain topic. Me and my partner chose independence and we had our discussion through FB. Her view about the topic are mostly similar with mine even we are from different country. Anyhow I had a good earn in knowledge through the section with East California students. Looking forward to have a blast of joy with Ecuadorians :)

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Today we had our last sessions with our American friends. We had presented our collaborative project which was about independence. In our presentation, we had stated the similarities and differences between us. My partner and I have too many differences, as we two are from two different countries. I managed to learn about their culture, traditions lifestyles and I think my partner from USA also able to learn about my cultures as well.It was a great experience to communicate with them and I'm definitely going to miss the American friends.

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HURRICANE
According to my partner from USA, the hurricane hit their college and hostel areas. They said, it was very hard for them to attend their classes, as most of the places nearby their college was badly damaged by hurricane. Most of their things like books and laptops stuck inside their college and their college closed for almost two weeks. I feel pity for them and pray for their well-being. Hopefully they'll get over it very soon.

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This time i had chatting session with my partner. Since, my partner have other things to settle down, he just chat with me for about 7-10 minutes. Since it was too short, I couldn't able to chat with him properly. So, I prepared around 15-20 question about his lifestyles, family, religion, traditions and etc and mailed it to him. He answered all those question and it
made my way much more easier to finish my collaborative project.

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It was third time, we were having our live video chatting with our American friends. My partner Zack was absent on that day, so I couldn't be able to communicate with him. But, I able to communicate with other American partners. This time, we discussed about marriage traditions and significant celebration or festival in both America and Malaysia. We were no more feel nervous to talk with each other as they were so friendly.

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4th of October 2016, we had our second video chatting session with our American partner. This time, we were talking about our family and certain customs and traditions that we follow in both America and Malaysia. Since they gave us full cooperation, we found it easy to communicate with them. Apart from that, we able to get know each other very well, and my partner messaged me after the class to discuss about our collaborative project.

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29th September 2016 was our first live video chat with our partners from United States of America. I tend to meet my partner Zack and we introduced each other. Since, it was my first time having chit chat with them, I was so nervous. I couldn't be able to talk with them properly. But, they were active and cool. We shared about our college life, our university, our lifestyles and etc. That was a great experience too. Hopefully, I learn more about their cultures, traditions and lifestyles in the upcoming sessions with them.

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Today is our last class with American partner. We are doing the collaborative project which is presentation for either 'power', 'independence', and 'honor'. I and my partner Kaycee choosing the 'power'. Unfortunately, my partner absent againT_T..but still managed to finish it. American culture is very very different with our culture. Sometime the American I can feel them actually they feel awesome and 'wow' for our culture. Although we may having different language, religion, culture, races, but yet we still live in harmony:) Hope to meet the American partner in the future.

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Thanks God. After few class cancelled caused by the hurricane in USA, finally meet with them. Thanks God, they are fine. The topic covered was the meaning of life and religion. It was quite weird when talking about meaning of life and religion. A lot of silent moment occur@@..and jumping topic==
When it come to this type of "topic", quite lot of people was feeling that it was sensitive, but what I think was be open minded. I'm really thanks God let me born in Malaysia. A country that full with cultural diversity. Being a Malaysian we can actually more "cutural' than others country. And yes, come to Terengganu I'm learn alot of knowledge about Islam. I'm really thanks God. If God gives me a chance to choose became which citizen, yes, I'll still choosing Malaysia:)

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According to my partner Kaycee, the hurricane had mass amounts of flooding. The roads were broken and school was shut down for a week. They are now working to rebuild and get everything back running smoothly. I hope they are fine

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Today was our last session with the ECU students. It was a great experience knowing them and learning about their culture. From my observation, Malaysians and Americans has a big difference from every aspect. Even though there are gaps between the two nations, we still can cooperate and get to know each other well. The collaborative project shows that time, distance is just a number. We still can seat in front of the computer and work together. Hope we all could meet each other once again in the future.

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On our last session with them, we talked about the project and also about life and religion. Since it has been awhile we haven't contacted them due to hurricane, just last session we were able to talk about the collaborative project. It was short and simple. However, when it comes to talk about life and religion, it was pretty awkward. Tbh, they do not really know about Islam. They just heard the stereotypes that has been playing in the media. However, no matter what religion you are in, we are all the same. Also, it was pretty hard to open up about religion.

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HURRICANE!
According to my partner Kelsey, the hurricane hit North Carolina on Friday and it was the worst they have ever experienced. The areas near the schools was damaged severely and people had to evacuate their homes. The TAR river which was right next to the campus, flooded the majority of the city. According to her, the river didn't stop overflowing for almost a week. This leads to the decision to cancel class all week. The highways and the small back roads were flooded as well, making it hard for them to enter to the city. My partner and the others are doing perfectly well. Let's keep them in prayers and hope everything goes well for those in East Carolina University.

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After a few cancelled class, we finally able to meet our American Partners again. This is our fourth link together. It was kinda awkward to talk back again and go with the flow. We talked about Life and Religion. I honestly learned a lot about what life means to them and what does it means to me. They were very shocked to know that we are living harmoniously in this country and we celebrate each others festival.

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20 October
It is MY third link with the students from East Carolina University. Today my partner and I was discussed about the meaning of life. my partner's opinion about life is different from mine. he shared many information about his family . we discussed about how important family in our life and why we need family. we also discussed about the family gatherings and the value of family.  we also talked about the purpose of life.

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They had a hurricane and

my partner have been without electricity for a week and he could not go anywhere because his

house was surrounded by water. No water got in his house though so his family and he

were safe.  They usually have a few hurricanes around this time of year but this hurricane was the worst one they have had in about 20 years. Hope everything will be fine..

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Hurricane
According to Molly,the hurricane was a category 5 hurricane and most of the impact on the University was due to flooding of the Tar River in Greenville North Carolina. Some students who live close to the river lost a lot of their personal belongings due to the high flood waters. There was more near the coast and in the state of Florida but none in Greenville. There is 13 deaths in North Carolina, according to her.

I hope they're okay. :(

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Hurricane!!

It just made me worried personally to be honest. I checked on my partner through FB messenger, she shared that the  hurricane caused a lot of flooding and she said the water level was still raising since their school is next to a river. Some students had to be evacuated from their homes but thankfully her home is far away from the river. She's safe and no one has been hurt so far. They all are just waiting for the storm to pass so that that they can move on. Their classes are canceled for the rest of the week as we all know. But it just glad to hear that they still can access to the nearest food stores. Hope things get better there.

Fingers crossed :)

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It is our third link.

I thought I should sit at the type chatting corner this week because I had done the face to face chat last week.

Alright. Lucy was absent again today. I thought she has forgotten about her Chinese Malaysian partner. I wish I could get an email from her.

The topic today is culture of festival.  We talked about a lots of things: family, food, customs, religion, festivals etc. The funny thing is the new thing I learnt today is not the Americans culture but the Malay's and Indian's culture. It is the first time I heard about the Malay's and Indian wedding ceremony. I was shock when I heard that the Indian ceremony was last for a month. Wow. Such a Big day to them. They must be very tired during that wedding month.

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It is our second link with the students from East Carolina University.

I cant talk to my partner because Lucy was absent today. Today's topic is family. This topic sounds interesting but I didnt have much surprise about the Americans culture as what I understand from the link is similar to what I learnt from the Americans movies.

Other than family, we talked about food. I found that the Americans loves pizza, fried chicken, potato chips which are the food we find in fast food restaurant. Do they really eat fast food or such an unhealthy food everyday? Alright. I know not all of them eat unhealthy but for those who do, I will pray for their health. I was brought up from a pure Chinese family, although there were some days I didnt eat rice, I cant imagine the days without rice and vegetables.

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This is my reflection for the first meeting with the students from East Carolina University (ECU).

First, this was the first time I actually had a conversation with the English native speaker. I felt very shy and I would like to keep myself silent and enjoy listening to their conversation, pronunciation and how they can express themselves freely in English.

Next, I felt funny when they said they had to end the link because it was getting very late over there. I knew it was because we are at different time zone, but I was hardly to hold my  laugh when I heard the word "late" as I just woke up and had my breakfast an hour ago.

Thirdly, I was disappointing of their attitude to us. Before this link, I heard from my friend who had taken Introduction to World Culture before, that the Americans were the most talkative and friendly people among the countries they were linked. However, I felt sad when I see most of them just playing with their phones and computer instead of talking with us in the camera. Nevertheless, I was glad that my partner whose named Lucy, is a pretty young lady and I love her curly hair very much. I cant wait to be friend with her in the next meeting.

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6th October

It was my first chatting with my partner, Roylanda. It was great! We talked about tradition. I found out there was an interesting tradition during their new year. They will make black eye peas and collard green for good luck and health.  There are two special things they will do during the wedding day. Bouquet throwing and father daughter dance. That’s really cool! Oh and the bride is the only who is allowed to wear white. I personally think that, chatting is more comfortable and effective. I look forward to chat with my partner. She is outgoing and we are friends in Snapchat now! We are black and yellow friends! Hahaha, just kidding! (:

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It was the third meeting with Americans. I was assigned to do a 'word chatting' with my partner and I'm so glad finally my partner presence in the class. Since it was my first time to 'meet' my partner and I try to get know more about my partner but she is quite direct, just started with the topic T_T. Besides, I think that I'm sharing more than my partner since my answer is quite long XD. I shared a lot of things about the festivals and cultures in my family as well as in our country. Yes, ofcourse, I personally feel that chatting is better since the focus was really on each other and it is so different with video chatting. Hopefully my partner can be more proactive in the coming meeting :-).

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Today is the second meeting with Americans. We were divided into 2 groups. Group A was interacting through the webcam (video chatting), and group B (word chatting with their partner). I managed to meet my partner but she is absence again. The topic covered in the second meeting was family. Last meeting is about self introduction and college life. It is quite different in the family values and cultures in Americans if compared to Malaysian. Hopefully through this chatting with them will teach me and exposed to me more about Americans culture

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Today is our first meeting with Americans. They are the university students from East Carolina University (ECU), and it is my first time chat with Americans by using webcam. I managed to meet my partner-Kaycee but she is absence. I'm quite disappointed because my partner was not around. First looking at their attire in class, iti is so different from us, they can simply wear shorts and singlet in class. Besides that, is quite hard for me to adapt with the Americans accent. I try my best to understand it. Maybe it is the first meeting, both parties (UMT & ECU) quite passive during the meeting. There was not much interaction going on in the meeting. Hopefully it will became better and better in the next meeting.

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6TH OCT
I was in chat room with my partner Madison. A good time to know each other personally since the focus was really on each other. We tend to chat more about festivals and all. My partner is not someone practices religious things but her mum is a Christian as she mention. She is 22 and she loves pet, Im 24 and I don't like pets! But to be friends differences doesn't count in. We add each other in FB and Instagram. We are friends now! :)

Become friends with people who aren't your age. Hang out with people whose first language isn't same as yours. Get to know someone who doesn't come from your social class. This is how you see the world. this is how you grow. :) Good day

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6th October

Today i get a chance to video chatting with my partners from United State. On that video call, we was discussed about tradition. First, my friends and I explained about our tradition. We talked about our marriage customs, belief, traditional food and festivals. They also shared about their tradition as well. I felt that they more curious about our culture and rituals. They also talked about soccer and so on.

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4TH OCT
Second day with them, we are divided into two groups. I was in the video call section, my partner Madison was there. She looked good with her blonde hair and outspoken character. They are more interested on questioning about our culture and family traditions. Their traditions seems more casual and simple. When comes to us, we are more into family values.
I'm glad the conversation was build better than the first met, but the sad part is they don't watch bollywood :(

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29TH SEPT 2016
First meeting with the American students, a mix feel of nervous and excitement. :) We introduced each other and get to know with our partners. They threw in few questions and shared their regular activities; especially "drinking" activities.
>They drink regularly and when comes to us we either don't drink or drinks occasionally.
> Their attire and behaviors are really casual compare to us. we seems to be more disciplined.
Even though we have culture difference their friendliness makes us feel more attached and comfortable in day 1 itself.

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4th October

it was the first time for me to meet with our partners from United state. Honestly, that was a nice experience for me. On that day I was assigned to chat with my partner (Andrew). But, that day he is not online. So I get a chance to chat with girl (Christina). First, we introduced ourselves and we started to talk about college life. She shared many interesting things about the college life and she gave me a quick overview about her college life. I personally think that their college life is more interesting than us.

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The second conversation, we talk about ours favor thing to do on day and night time and ours culture different. At American, they married age will be after 25 years old. At there 18 years old there will move out from home and live alone either work or study. American family normally will have once a year gathering however Zack was not the one. American family normally will have 4-5 member. I very surprised that American normally will move out from home at 18 years old. At Malaysia, not matter any religion we are more close with parents and most of us only will move out after married. This section sharing i found that individual conversation better that the last time group conversation.

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it 's my very first time with Americans. I was super excited and nervous to meet up the partner. Full of imagination about the first meet. Full of expect to meet me partner who could be a very friendly and talkative. i was excited to meet my partner Zack. the first meet my partner was a bit awkward and he was so grim and look like not that interest in the conversation. The first topic they interest to same as my expect is 'Iiquar' , it as a start for us to talk. However due to the limitation of time we have to end the topic early. After back i check my webmail, i had received my partner email and the though the words he use in email that was totally out of my expect compare with the first meet. i should not judge people from the first meet and first talk. Hope we can have more well to each other after few conversation.

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In this class, we shared our thoughts with our partners through chatting. I personally think chatting is better because I can be more responsive and chatting is the way I normally communicate with my friends in hometown. I get to know my partner better and we shared a lot about the festivals we celebrated in both countries. I am happy that my partner is friendly and now we are friends on Snapchat :D

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On the second meeting, we shared our thoughts on family and cultural traditions. We told them the traditions that normally practiced by Malay, Chinese and Indians and they shared theirs. The sharing session was fun and the conversation was slightly better than the first time.

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It's the very first time we get to meet our foreign partners and topic of the day was about univeristy life. For me the first meeting was kinda awkward because the conversation was hard to maintain and we keep running out of questions to ask each other. However, i like the way they get to dress up to class. Looking casual with their singlets and shorts. I am surprised they are so into drinking and drinking seems like one of their regular activities. Perhaps thats the way they release their stress.

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For this class, I was assigned to do a live chat with my partner from America. Since my partner was absent from the previous meet, we had some get to know session and for this meet we were talking about the traditions and cultures we practice in America and Malaysia. The one thing, I really wish to practice in my life after chatting to my partner is, the habit of praying before having the meal and praying every morning when she wakes up and before she goes to bed. It makes to realise how grateful I really am. Since my partner doesn't know much about the Indian Cultures, I've sent a few photographs of the Indian Culture and to get a better understanding of each other, we are now connected through social medias.

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It was the second meeting with the Americans. We were divided into 2 groups. The first group was interacting through the video and the another was chatting with their partner. Compared to our first meet the Americans, this was a better platform for us to learn about the family values and more about our partner. The process of exchanging ideas and their thoughts, was very interesting.

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29th Sept 2016
It's my very first time with the AMERICANS. It was a brand new experience. I was super excited and nervous to meet up with the AMERICANS. I have never made my journey to foreign countries but I'm seriously hoping for one (I'll definitely will!). I was excited to meet my partner Kelsey Smith. The first meet was a bit awkward since we weren't exposed to our partners from abroad and we never knew what we were gonna see. Sharing our life experiences and getting to know about lifestyles, definitely was a new learning process for myself.
Hopefully,the other meet up with the Americans will teach me more about them and help them to learn about MALAYSIA as well.

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Hola ! For it feels good to actually listen to the real American accent . I've been hearing some people (not in our class) trying so hard to copy their accent but guess what it was just a catastrophic to my ears.

In the 1st meeting i just feel like there wasn't much interaction going on. As for myself i don't do the talking a lot most probably i'm shy or maybe i'm in a state of awkwardness since it was a new experience communicating with Americans but was just happy to be part of the group, interacting and exchanging thoughts.

Was kindda surprised as well when i don't received this question : "What is Malaysia ?"

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ecu # Apple

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4th of October

Today is the second meeting with our international collaborative partners from United States. We were divided into two groups: video chatting group and word chatting group. I have been assigned to video chatting group. The topic covered was family.

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29th of September

Today is our first meeting with our international collaborative partner from the United States. They are the students from East Carolina University. I managed to meet my partner and her name is Roylanda.

First looking at the way they dress up to class, it strikes me that we are so different, in the sense that they could wear shorts and singlet to class. Despite our differences, I am so excited to meet them as I believe that, when we meet new people we can be potentially introduced to new opportunities. There are many ideas out there that we don’t even know exist right now. There’s no telling how far these opportunities can take us. Instead of being nervous about these new chances, it can benefit us much more by embracing them as they come. When you interact with someone that sees things completely differently, you’ll be surprised by what exists that you never thought of.

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Since it has been 2 long semesters since I last met with ECU, today it rekindled the great atmosphere of learning about the Americans again.

Looking at the members of their classroom which come from different backgrounds and ages, with the passionate returning students, it strikes me that Americans are lucky, in the sense that they can come for education whenever they need it, without anyone stereotyping them (well, there maybe, but I hope there aren't any).

(students should write longer! I need to write other things.. =p)

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REFLECTION: e-reflection after each link

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REFLECTION: e-reflection after each link

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Share your thoughts and experiences after links every class.

First, double click any space on this padlet, then on the title write partner (UNI link #): your name.
e.g. ECU#1: AZZA
(See my sample near this box ;) )

How I assess your reflection? See 'Personal Reflection Rubric' on page 33 of our module

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Go to this link,

http://collab.eai.ecu.edu/display/gusr

Then fill in the survey.

Username: gustudent

Password: gustudent