**This article marks the launch of a new writing corner, “I, MY.” The corner’s primary aim is to invite international students in Monash to share their experiences as foreigners in Malaysia. It’s open to everyone, with the overarching goals of fostering better inclusion, encouraging greater interaction, and deeper understanding within yourself.

Submissions can be made via: https://forms.gle/wg6bUBbpuZDstS9p7

Why Are You Here?

Upon starting my studies at Monash Malaysia, I often found myself confronted with the question, “Why did you come to this country?” 

It’s a question that can lead to a profound realization of “you do not quite belong here”. Suddenly, everything about you that was once considered ‘normal’ becomes a reminder of your strangeness – your dinner menu, your facial features, your reactions, and even the exotic sentences you directly translate from your mother tongue to English. Regardless of how dynamic your relationship with the country may be, this question shines a spotlight on you and places you on a stage where you exist solely as a foreigner. To answer that question, you must acknowledge that you are not one of them, introduce your perspective as a foreigner in Malaysia, and explain how it led you to be here. Living as an international student often involves grappling with such questions. This curiosity, which momentarily interrupts your life, can delve deep into the psyche of a person who has left their original community. This accentuates the fact that documenting this experience is an essential to your personal history.

I Am Here, and I Am Foreign

The title “I, MY” encapsulates the two main themes of this corner. In English, the distinction between the subject pronoun ‘I’ and the possessive adjective ‘my’ is a significant step toward redefining you as an individual, and the thought of the boundaries between yourself and the titles you bare. It prompts you to explore your role in your world and the meaning you carry.

Furthermore, this corner is specifically designed to delve into the dynamics of international students’ lives within the Malaysian context. It explores the parallel experiences of ‘I’ and the country ‘MY’ – the unending negotiations between the personal transformations international students voluntarily undergo to immerse themselves into society and the enduring differences as foreigners that maintain the gaps. 

In “I, MY”, we not only see the individual, but the world behind them. We celebrate the challenges, accomplishments, and concerns of international students. You will observe how other international students view things in Malaysian society. By dissecting the empirical dynamics of continuous transformation, we witness how the discourses an international student carry develop, finally making one to be extraordinary in this world.

Now, It Is Time to Talk About You

Share with us why you are changing, and tell us what remains at your core, the internal power that will eternally define who you are. 

Yes, I am an alien, and I came here in peace. I have strories to share about my planet.

Article by Juyeoung

Design by Jocelyn