The final days of my short stay in Malaysia. Part 3/3
Quick Hits:
- I need to go gokartimg more
- monkeys are pests
- Don’t make my stupid mistakes, bring modest clothing to a Muslim country
Details:
The week finished with some excursions and a general feeling of exhaustion.
We had the honor of bring invited over for some homemade Persian food by one of the members of Jakob’s team on Monday night. It was easily the best meal I have eaten all summer. I am really bummed I couldn’t eat more. It was all so good. I will be doing some thorough research to find out how to make my own sad american copy of these dishes. We returned to the hotel and met up with Marie. Somehow the topic of sororities came up and for thirty glorious minutes I was able to share the ridiculousness that is sorority life to two shocked Danes. They thought it was fake, just movie stuff. They were in disbelief. It was one of my favorite conversations of the summer.
On Tuesday Jakob and I visited the Batu caves. I believe it is a temple that is under construction. It certainly looked that way. There were plenty of mischievous monkeys stealing food and iphones. I made the foolish mistake of wearing my standard California shorts. Thankfully there was a cover up rental stand for other women as naive as myself.
Wednesday our office went out for a go karting team building excursion. I am ashamed to say I let my country down, and I came in fourth. BUT the whole thing was great fun! We went out to lunch after and between you and me, this felt like the first time foreign food had crushed my spirits. Although it usually is very exciting trying new things and just blindly pointing at menus, something inside of my longed for a burger, or a good taco salad, or anything my parents cook.
After some very genuine goodbyes we were back in the airport on the way to Copenhagen.
I learned SO MUCH on this trip. I saw a culture that was very diverse and how cultural tendencies can span into the work place. I saw the ridiculously difficult challenge of managing teams across continents first hand. The applications that are managed, created, and maintained from Malaysia are so critical to the success of DONG Energy, and its easy to see why. The fine line that needs to be walked to ensure employees are feeling valued, while still producing results quickly, and keeping costs within a budget seems at times like an impossible task. Watching Jakob and Marie operate was invaluable, and I hope to someday follow in their footsteps by being an effective, enthusiastic, and respected leader.
If I can find the emotional strength, I’ll be writing a summary of this internship and my summer at DONG Energy by the end of the week.
Until then, one lucky intern signing off!
Paige Hoel 
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