After an 8 hour-long flight from my homeland Malaysia, I finally reached Melbourne Airport. Excited, nervous, jet lagged, I took my first step out of the airport, to be greeted by that soon-to-be-familiar rush of strong wind. Well, hello Melbourne!

The coffee:

Flat white, long black, cappuccino, latte; overwhelming choices of coffee is on the menu of tempting, cute and cosy cafes. The aroma is so good that it is almost a sin not to have some coffee then and there, with that nice latte art on it! Oh, and with three packets of sugar, me being a Malaysian!

The food:

We can have Indian cuisine for breakfast, Vietnamese cuisine for lunch, Mexican cuisine for dinner. Why go all the way when you can have them right here in Melbourne? Tandoori, kebab, gelato, burrito, sushi, and don’t forget the pasta and pizza all along Lygon Street! You name it, Melbourne’s got it!

Music is everywhere!

Buskers along the city streets playing Indigenous music, folk, blues, jazz, and all kinds of music as you walk around the city. Happy, festive atmosphere with all the happenings, every week!

The green parks with seagulls (watch out for your food!), so peaceful to just lie down and look at the perfectly blue sky. Of course, weather here can be tricky sometimes. One look out of the window tells you it’s raining heavily, and another look after that, well it’s sunny. Now you’re wondering if your mind is playing tricks on your eyes.

The beautiful Yarra River; watching the silent and calm flow of the river soothes your mind.

The trams (yes, trams). Especially those classic City Circle trams; rumbling along with all its glory of the past (and it’s free!).

And the list goes on. And on.

These are the few of many reasons of why I found Melbourne so captivating. Cuisines, aroma, sights and sounds from all around the world. Modern and history come together. The cultural diversity is simply astounding.

The best of it all? The people, of course. Courteous, warm, friendly, helpful, kind and joyful people. Being far from home, homesickness is unavoidable (for me), but the people here really cheered me up, accepting me even though I came from a different background. Thanks to them, Melbourne is now my second home.

Then came the idea of sharing Malaysian culture with the people of Melbourne.

To my delighted surprise, other Malaysians here in Melbourne feel the same too. My fellow Malaysians and I, feeling indebted to the kindness of the people here, wanted to bring the best of Malaysia to the heart of Melbourne as a token of appreciation. We would like to share a part of us that we always treasured and took pride on, with our Melbourne friends.

Together, in a committee put together under the Malaysian Students Council of Australia Victoria (MASCA Victoria), we embarked on the journey of delivering a part of Malaysia to the people of Melbourne, a project named Fiesta Malaysia.

It’s not all roses down the path though. Well even roses have thorns!

Conflicts, issues, limited funds, time pressure, and many more. But we went through them as a team, and conquered it all! We’ve grown a lot with this project. What an insightful learning experience those 8 months of my life were!

Fiesta Malaysia 2013, held on 16th of March, despite the rainy day, was attended by nearly 20,000 people. For us students, with totally no experience in running such events, we were amazed with the turnouts! Our Malaysian cuisines; Roti Canai, Nasi Lemak, Satay, Nasi Kerabu, Teh Tarik (or pulled tea), Ais kacang, Cendol, were a big hit. The games; congkak, chinese chess, batu seremban, mah-jong, rattan ball, and chapteh never failed to amuse the visitors all day. Numerous performances by our own Malaysian artist, Juwita Suwito (see video) along with martial arts performances and a lion dance to start the event with a blast kept everyone entertained and excited the whole day.

What a day! And a memorable day it was!

Fiesta Malaysia 2013 would never have taken place without the support of Consulate General of Malaysia to Melbourne, the Malaysian Government (e.g. Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Information, Communication & Culture, Sarawak Tourism Board), Australian Government (e.g. City of Melbourne, Victorian Multicultural Commission), Fed Square Pty Ltd for the perfect venue, corporate partners, university and non-university-based Malaysian Students Organisations (MSOs), as well as the international communities in Australia. Thank you for supporting us to make our wish come true!

It was truly an experience I will never forget, this cultural sharing with the people of Melbourne. Seeing the smiles on their face, enjoying good authentic Malaysian food, watching performers from my homeland, trying out the games of my childhood, I feel a really overwhelming sense of happiness. With the help of everyone, we managed to do what we have started out to do: to share a part of us with the people of Melbourne, Malaysian-style.

Perhaps another Fiesta Malaysia next year, people?

This now-familiar wind is getting strong, and cold. Maybe it’s time for me to get back home. This park is really nice, seriously!

Oh and did I mention that you can have summer, winter, autumn and spring in one week, here in Melbourne? Melbourne rocks!

Thank you Malaysia for always being a part of me, and thank you Melbourne for welcoming me with arms wide open.