Seminar on Globalization

Last weekend I and some of my fellow AFs friends were invited to participate in a seminar on globalization in a college in Banting, some Kilometers south of Klang.

In friday afternoon AFS organized a van to drive us to the so called MARA college Banting. In this college students are orientated before they go to study in countries like the UK or in the US on scholarships.

We were welcomed and some students took me and Stefan around the area. Later on a VIP (Dato') officially opened the seminar and gave a short introduction about the topic. The seminar's slogan was "Think globally, act locally". In the evening we ere grouped to discuss on different topics to get to know each other. From the first moment on I enjoyed talking to the students very much. I went to bed very late, as some studets took me and Stefan to teir room, were around eight people were playing an online game inside one of the hostels's rooms. The rooms are actually designed to accomodate only two students.

After the breakfast an important man frm the ministry of International Trading and Industry gave an interesting speech about the ways the malaysian economy develops, changes, faces challenges and trades with other countries. I enjoyed listening t this speech very much, as almost all about it was new to me. Ufortuately he couldn't really answer my questions concerning Myanmar and Taiwan. Probably he's also not allowed to talk about it.

We proceeded with a speech by a famous lecturer about environmetal issues but this was not very interesting. I've heard a lot about environment and global warming. This speech was only a repetition f what mos of us know about the environmental problems we are facing. The chairman of the organisation comitee briefed me and Audrey about the cultural slot we were about to have with the college pricipal. This slot took place shortly after lunch but for me it was not very satisfiying as I expected or hoped for more questions ad statemets about exchange and culture. It was just too cursory. We also touched some delicate issues but couldn't establish an active discussion. Afterwards we were again seperaed into groups and briefed about a presentation we had to prepare to present on the following day. My group's topic was "Violation of media and technology" and in my opinion this was the most difficult topic to present. We had a long discussion and had a lot of ideas.

Finally the organizatio comitee announced that everybody could take part in sports in the afternoon so I joined a roup playing volleyball. The teams were even of mixed sex which you rarely see in my school ore elsewhere in M'sia. The game was big fun.

In the evening we had a nice dinner at a hotel. After eating I was ecouraged later forced and then begged to sing the malaysian song that I can sing by heart. It was a nice atmosphere and we all had interesting conversations.

On sunday I and another member of my group presented our cnclusion. The discussions seemed to interest everybody of the 40 students but we were outrun by the time and the organizers wanted to follow the schedule. The seminar was officially closed and we said goodby after having had a long photo session.

I had a great time with the students in Banting and I learned a lot about economics.