The University Honors Program offers a Study/Travel Program to provide AU students a special opportunity to explore onsite the historical, political, cultural and social aspects of a certain country, region, or city during a week-long trip that coincides with spring break. This spring, the Study/Travel Program will send students to Malaysia. 

Leading the trip will be SIS Professor Pek Koon Heng-Blackburn, who was born in Malaysia and has led AU trips there for the past ten years. Professor Blackburn is also teaching an Honors colloquium this semester entitled "Race, Religion and Identity in Globalizing Malaysia."

The confirmed travel dates are Friday, March 9 - Monday, March 19, 2012. Registration for this trip is now closed. See below for trip highlights and opportunities for course credit.

Trip Highlights

Highlights of the Study/Travel trip to Malaysia will include:

• Day trip to Forest Research Institute of Malaysia featuring a tour on the Canopy Walkway, which was constructed for scientific studies of above-ground flora and fauna.
• Tour of the historic city of Malacca, located on Malaysia's west coast. The city was founded as a sultanate and has been designated as a World Heritage Site. Attractions include ruins from the period of Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonization.
• Dialogue session with students from Malaysian universities.
• Exploration of cultural sites in Putrajaya, including visits to a beautiful mosque, Hindu shrine and Chinese temple.
• Visit to the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia to learn about U.S.- Malaysian relations.

Guest speakers on such topics as Islam in Malaysia; political identity and democracy; human rights; refugee and migrant worker issues; and economic development.

The travel guide Lonely Planet has these things to say about some of the sights you will see:

• Malaysia (particularly along the peninsular west coast) has one of the best assortments of delicious cuisines in the world.
• Despite all the pockets of ethnicities, religions, landscapes and the sometimes-great distances between them, the beauty of Malaysia lies in the fusion of it all, into a country that is one of the safest, most stable and easiest to manage in Southeast Asia.
• Kuala Lumpur has evolved into a 21st-century metropolis, dominated by the tallest skyscrapers in Southeast Asia and flush with the proceeds of international trade and commerce.
• Kuala Lumpur is every inch the Asian cyber-city: historic temples and mosques rub shoulders with space-age towers and shopping mall.
• The most striking thing about Kuala Lumpur from a visitor’s perspective is its remarkable cultural diversity.
• One of Malaysia’s most eagerly sought-after destinations, the small city-state of Melaka (Malacca) lures droves of visitors to its namesake historic port city, where they are quickly steeped in an intoxicating multicultural world of heritage architecture and the alluring aromas of distinctive local cooking.
• Proud of its multicultural heritage, plentiful museums and assorted cultural attractions, Melaka is a tourist habitat par excellence.

Course Credit

If you’d like to earn academic credit on the trip, you can sign up for an independent study with Professor Pek Koon Heng-Blackburn, the SIS professor who is leading the trip and teaching a spring 2012 Honors Colloquium on Malaysia. Major credit will be available in some majors.

Questions?

Please don't hesitate to ask. Contact Honors directly at 202-885-6194, or by email at Honors@american.edu.