Go Study Global Education: How Do You Celebrate Chinese New Year in Your Hometown (25/2/2022)

 Although CNY has ended more than a week, I'm sure everyone wants to know how do we celebrate the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year around China and Southeast Asia (SEA). I came across the event on LinkedIn while I was scrolling through and signed up for the event. Then, my friend, Luna, who is one of the organisers asked me whether I would be interested to be one of the speakers. I said yes straight away! 

We had a quick rehearsal on how the event would run on that day, I tested out my presentation slides, everything was okay. Sophie recognised me, she was one of the participants from SEAGAN's networking session last year in June - "The SEA of Education". It was one of our biggest networking in history since the establishment of SEAGAN. 

The next day was the event. I was nervous yet excited because I haven't speak in front of people for a long time. First up, we have Sophie from China who showed us her family tradition. I found it we have something in similar when it comes to the Chinese New Year celebration. I do remember having congee on the 12th month in the lunar calendar. Next up, it was my turn to present how Chinese New Year is celebrated in Malaysia. 

Similar to the previous presenter, Sophie, we too also have the reunion dinner and going back to our hometown or more locally we said it balik kampung. What makes Malaysian CNY special? We have our own CNY album for every animal in the Chinese zodiac. I played Hu Hu Gongxi Bersama 虎虎恭喜 Bersama - from Astro's CNY album. The participants seemed to like it. After my presentation, we moved over to Tony, who was the next speaker after me. 

There was no Q & A session for us in the first round. We had another round of presentation to go. This time we have speakers from China, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan presenter was not available. We moved on to Noni of Timor-Leste. Although Timor-Leste does not celebrate Chinese New Year like Malaysia or China, they do have the New Year's celebration for the first day of the year. Like any New Year celebration, family reunion is one thing. 

After the two Chinese presenters, we had an Q & A session. One of the participants, Nurin from Indonesia asked me whether the toy I was holding is the official Chinese New Year mascot for Malaysia. "No, it's from one of the TV stations in Malaysia as other TV stations, they will have their own tiger mascots in conjunction with CNY," 

A couple more questions and it was a wrapped for today's Youth Talk! Thank you Go Study! Looking forward to sharing more about Malaysia in future events!

Sunway University Physical Convocation 2022 (16/2/2022)

It's graduation for the graduates at Sunway University! Last year, we were supposed to have a physical convocation but we went into Movement Control Order (MCO) 2.0 and we had virtual graduation last year in May. Whether we were to have physical graduation or not, it was yet to decide. Until the university announced that we were going to have physical graduation to make up for everything last year! 

A day before graduation, it coincided with Chap Goh Mei (the last day of Chinese New Year). I went to campus with my parents to collect the graduation gown. Before that, I went to Student Life to collect my Sunway Global Friendship Community (SGFC) active member certificate. Then, we went to the Graduate Centre to collect the graduation gown. 

Using the shortcut that I usually took to the Graduate Centre. Coincidentally, Kayla, who is one of the university's student council members, came to our attendance. She helped us with the Sunway Lagoon tickets which were required for convocation day. I went to Function Room 3 to collect the graduation gown. I saw some of my course mates were trying the gown on, I wanted to try but the people in charge told us they had given us the smallest size. Well, we just have to find out whether it could fit or not. 

I went to corners of the campus where I usually spent most of the time. Then, we headed to the college side to take a photo outside of the Monash University Foundation Year's  (MUFY) office because that was when the journey began. I even had caught up with Sharlize - a best friend of mine, who I met during our Model United Nations days and now she is my junior studying the foundation course. 

The next day was graduation day. Honestly, I couldn't get up from bed. After getting ready, it was time to head off to graduation! Unfortunately, we got lost while we were on the way because we didn't know which hotel we could stop by. In the end, we had to call my school's coordinator, Ms Kailin, to confirm the place. 

The first people I bumped into were Kavind, Joanne and her partner, Gabriel. "Wow, Kar Marn! You look nice, you're even wearing one of your favourites colours, yellow!" said Joanne. "It was intentional because the gown scarf colours are blue and orange, so I choose yellow to mix with the colours," I said. Then, I met up briefly with Chester and he introduced me to his partner, Stephanie. 

We realised that there were escalators and there were no lifts to get to the Amphitheatre. We called Kayla, and she arranged for one of the security guards to lead us to the venue. It was not just one escalator but five. After we had settled down, we had a briefing on how should we receive the scrolls when we go up on stage later on. There were some students who did the demonstration. Not to mention, my seat was just right in front of the stage. 

The procession of academics had started and the ceremony began with the national anthem - Negaraku. 

First up, the diploma students received their scrolls. For degree holders were not long after. Seeing my coursemates receiving their scrolls one by one, I was really happy for them! We are graduating together! When it was my turn, I stayed calm, "You can do this! Just take the scrolls and you're done!" 

The moment my name was called, my mind just went blank. I walked across the stage to receive my scroll from Sunway University and then my second from Lancaster University. I finally did it! I graduated from university! Next, it was a presentation for the Jeffrey Cheah Scholastic Award. Joanne is one of the recipients of the award. We had a KPI to cheer for our coursemate, that's communication for you! 

Sunway Education Group CEO, Professor Dr Elizabth Lee gave her welcoming speech to welcome the new graduates to the Sunway Alumni Community. The moment we had been waiting for was throwing the mortarboard. We have seen graduates doing this on TV, and this time we are doing it in real life. After sending off the academics, it's time for us to take pictures! There were photo booths for graduates to take photographs with our professors, lecturers, family and friends. 

We headed back to Sunway Campus to take even more pictures. This time with Sunway Buddhist Society (SBS) - which helped me to get through a tough time during my second semester in college, and I was part of the family ever since.  

Thank you to my family, lecturers, coursemates and friends who have given the biggest support throughout the journey. This is not the end but a beginning of a new journey. I have graduated for real this time and it is off to a new adventure!  Once a Sunwayian, always a Sunwayian!