An Appetite for Adventure

From [09.08.22] Kuala Lumpur

I’m about a month behind divulging the details of my mystery adventure to Malaysia, but the memories are still salient and bright. Some background: Every year, Kellogg offers a pre-enrollment activity called KWEST – Kellogg Worldwide Experience and Service Trips. Historically, the trips are light on the service and heavy on the group-bonding experiences. About 20 trips take approximately 80% of the incoming student body to destinations as far flung as Chile, Egypt and Sweden. The trips are voluntary, but highly recommended as “you’ll meet some of your best friends on KWEST” slips off the lips of nearly every Kellogg alum.

Moreover, KWEST has a very special catch: for the week-long duration of the trip, you and your fellow KWESTees swear not to divulge the more menial, but easily accessible, parts of your background, such as where you went to college, your profession, your hometown and your most recent geographic location. With the mundane removed, people are forced to get to know each other beyond the basics, and not make judgments on stereotypes and connotations that may first come to mind.

At first, the idea of spending more money and time traveling after a whirlwind year in China and a summer trekking around the States intimidated me – and my wallet. But more than the travelling experience, the prospect of getting to know some classmates on such an intense journey lured me into applying. Taking a big risk, I ranked first what is arguably the most sought after trip: the Mystery Trip. Every year, 20 incoming students accompany 5 second year students on an adventure to an unknown country, with a mystery itinerary. Since I’ve traveled so extensively so recently, the risk of heading back to somewhere I’d been was high. But I also felt that the people I would encounter on such a trip would possess a high cool quotient.
And ultimately, I was not disappointed. After a night of drinking and revelry that took us on a scavenger hunt around Evanston, we boarded a big yellow school bus to O’Hare.

Night before photos here:

[09.08.21] Pre-KWEST Party

After a few well-planned fake outs, the revelation of destination Malaysia yielded a roar of excitement from our motley crew. Nearly 24 hours later, including a stopover in Seoul, we disembarked in Kuala Lumpur. Having traveled through Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, I assumed KL would bear the same marks of upwardly mobile SE Asian cities: pollution, crowds, haphazard architecture. Um, no. The brilliant blue skies, unclogged by smog and soot, exploded above innovative architecture. What colonial architecture remained existed in an air of romanticism more than one of decay, such as that endemic in Cambodia. The people, both friendly and modest, embodied the breezy nonchalance of those that know they live in a thoroughly modern city. And though I am not one to awe at modern skyscraping marvels, the Petronas Towers’s twinkling spires won even this skeptic over. While our two days in KL merely scratched the surface of Malaysian culture and commerce, I was distinctly impressed.

While in KL, we played soccer with a group of underprivileged children (and of course they kicked our butts), wandered through the neighborhoods that blend Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures, toured temples and sights beyond the city center and, most importantly, enjoyed a hilarious and frenetic night of dancing and mayhem at probably one of the cheesiest clubs in which I have ever stepped, the Aloha. The highlight was a Thai cover band that cranked out the tunes of the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga with a mind-blowing fervor and excitement. We should all pray they go on tour.

[09.08.22] Kuala Lumpur