Meet Foreign Exchange Students - Malaysia: Yuanying

Malaysia Truly Asia! The unique combination of Asia's cultures-Malay, Chinese, Indian, and many indigenous tribes adds exciting sights, flavor, and color to a vacation. Malaysia is a tropical wonderland situated in the heart of Southeast Asia just north of the equator. It is made up of Peninsular Malaysia, which lies between Thailand and Singapore, while East Malaysia is situated across the South China Sea on the island of Borneo.

Malaysia is blessed with rainforests, beautiful beaches, marine parks, and cultures that are unique to this part of the world. Bahasa Malaysia is the national language but Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow, Teochew and others), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Thai, and several indigenous languages are still used in our respective communities. Besides that, English is widely spoken too.

The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is a cosmopolitan business hub and the country's trade center, and is filled with amazing attractions. The city is a combination of colonial heritage and modern skyscrapers. The Petronas Twin Towers, which is the world's tallest building, is a place that is not to be missed.

Located 25 km from Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia's new Administrative Center of Federal Government, Putrajaya. This is the country's first intelligent garden city, full of unique futuristic architecture.

The states of Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang form up the east coast region as a quiet, peaceful, and stress-free environment. The region has a strong old-world charm and a gold mine of beautiful beaches, tropical rainforests, marine parks, and dive sites.

A global education enables an individual to recognize the undeniable interdependence of all people and cultures and nurtures respect and tolerance by placing each culture in a larger perspective. That is why I am here in America.