Знакомство с Иннополисом

Studying. Despite UPM being very high on university rankings, studying there was rather easy. All of my courses had at most 3 contact hours per week and very little homework. On top of that, Malaysia has a lot of Muslim holidays when you don't have classes, and on top of that, around half of the remaining classes were held online. If you really care, you could specifically go there during harder semesters to pass harder courses with ease (e.g., 1st semester of the 2nd year). There is just one catch: you must attend 80% of the classes to pass a course.

Accommodation. While university can theoretically provide dormitories, it is rather rare, and conditions there might not be very good. I, as well as all of my exchange friends, lived off campus. Expect to pay 14k-20k rubles (700-1000 Malaysian ringgit) a month for a half-decent room and be ready to spend 30+ minutes to get to the university. On the bright side, condominiums usually provide free swimming pool and gym.

Friends. Each semester UPM accepts around 150-200 exchange students. From my observations, the most popular countries where students come from are: France (40%), Germany (20%), Kazakhstan (8%), Korea (8%), China (8%). Most probably you will be the only ones from Russia proper.

Activities. Every 2-3 weeks university organizes trips and events. For trips we visited historical cities of Malacca and Georgetown, as well as some pretty nice beaches. Events are somewhat similar to the ones at Inno like the International Fest. Those events and trips are a great opportunity to meet new friends! Personally, I met most of my friends this way.

Traveling. UPM is conveniently located less than an hour away by metro from downtown Kuala Lumpur. And trust me, there is a lot to do in KL: stunning skyscrapers, great museums, huge parks. But once you have explored most of KL, it might be time to travel around South-East Asia. Luckily, KL is a major transport hub and you can directly go to any country in the region for pretty cheap. I highly recommend using this opportunity and visiting countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore (probably through transit), and Thailand.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed the experience of staying in Malaysia – a country with a very unique culture. I'd especially recommend going there if you're Muslim (but it's fine if you aren't, I'm not).