12 April 2018 (Thursday) | 7:45-10 pm | Dewan Astana, S01, Kolej Tuanku Canselor (KTC), UTMJB
Theme :- Famous Holidays

Holidays: special days set aside by either custom or law so that normal activities, especially work and schools, are suspended or reduced.

UTM Culture C☕rner 12.0, organized by UTM International, pays particular attention to “Famous Holidays” in various countries as its theme this week. Cuppa Time was back in full swing with coffee, tea, biscuits and sandwiches ready to be devoured as we engaged in casual conversations to start things off. As usual, group selfies were in order and were uploaded with the hashtags #utmculturecorner #utmawesome #utmstudentexperience #cuppatime. After that, our ever-energetic moderator Dr Farhana Diana Deris, a Senior Lecturer from Language Academy, UTM, started the session of Doodl-iesta in which each group would write the word “holiday” in various languages of each group member. This was followed by a short presentation of each group. Dr Diana then introduced everyone to a special guest of honour, Dato Mahadzir Lokman and invited him for a brief sharing. He delivered an eloquent, expressive, and multilingual speech; wow-ing the audience. He shared his experience as an international student abroad and how he became interested in languages, not to mention his many experiences as a famous news presenter for 41 years in Malaysia. It was an enriching session and we appreciate him for gracing our event from the beginning until the very end. We sure hope to see him again some other time! On to the main agenda, in our persistent effort in promoting cultural exchange, we then witnessed presentations from our friends from Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, China, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, and Malaysia, displaying and explaining the unique and famous holidays from their respective countries. The evening amped up even more with the popular Kahoot session led by Miss Fasihah Jaslan, Manager (Mobility) in UTM International. It was never a dull moment, with elated and exhilarated faces of the participants, sixteen questions were presented and this time, participants formed their own groups comprising friends from different countries to increase their chances of winning. In the end, three duos emerged as the victors. Congratulations to all. Feeding off of the high from the Kahoot session, our friend Siti Norziahidayu Amzee, a PhD student from Faculty of Science, led a sing-along to the song ‘Count on Me’ by Bruno Mars. The song resonated throughout the hall with a unison of voices, buoyed by friendship and camaraderie. Lastly, we came together for a group photo. Our aspirations have been, still are, and will always be to create everlasting friendships, networks and meaningful knowledge exchange.
Keep an eye out on our Facebook page “UTM International Student Experience” for more interactive and interesting student activities in UTM. In fact, our next Culture Corner will be on 26 April 2018.

Yours Sincerely,
Prof Dr Nor Haniza Sarmin
Associate Director (Student Services and Global Education Experience) UTM International

Photos credit QZ Photography

#UTMculturecorner #UTMstudentexperience #UTMmobilityprogram #UTMexchange #IamUTM #UTMawesome #UTMMyHome