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Basic Information
Chandler Khoo Robinson
robinck@mail.uc.edu
McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Neuropsychology
Discovering My Roots
Global Studies
Expected Project Start Date: August 15th 2014
Expected Project End Date: August 30th 2014
Project Information
1. Provide a detailed abstract of your proposed honors experiential learning project.
My mother is from Malaysia and we try to go over to visit her family every year. Since I was born here in The United
States and my father is American, I am completely westernized. When we go back to Malaysia, we only visit family
members and hang out with them and my mothers parents (since we stay with them). When we are over there, we
live life like any citizen there would, just going about our day-to-day activities. We never really explore the culture
and the history of the Island of Penang. My goal in this experience is to discover my heritage by learning more about
the rich history that the Island of Penang has to offer and to explore the culture more in depth than a common tourist
might be able to through the connections of my family on the island. I expect to spend at least twenty hours planning
and researching what I will be doing day-to-day and laying out an itinerary. Depending on the route that is taken, it
takes about thirty to thirty-four hours of travel time one way. I plan on spending at least twelve hours a day going to
the various sites and places to explore and learn about the history and heritage of the country. One hour a night would
be spent reflecting on the days experiences. I would spend my first day or two there settling down, seeing as many
family members as I can see, and trying to recover from jetlag (the twelve hour difference usually takes 5-7 days to
acclimate to). The next couple of days would be spent visiting various heritage sights around the island. The ones I
would want to visit would be the Big Blue Mansion, any forts from the British colonization of the island, and
especially the Khoo Kongsi, which is my familys clan house or family temple. It is the most extravagant temple in
Penang and contains a lot of the history from my family. The next two days would also be spent exploring heritage
sights, but ones that are smaller and not as known that people usually stumble upon randomly. I do not name specific
ones because there are so many that five to six of them could easily be visited in one day. Finally, the last couple of
days would be spent living out the day-to-day life as a normal citizen of the island by running errands with my
grandparents and things of the sort. By doing this, I can interact with the locals at the markets, hawker stands, and
roadside shops. I will be able to do a lot of meaningful things while I am there that will not sacrifice quality of the
work because I have had experience in the culture and can make my way around the island, the purpose of the
experience is to delve deeper into the culture.

Clearly and thoroughly address how each of the following elements will be exhibited in your work:
2. Connection to Learning Outcomes within the Honors Thematic Area (identified above)
Learning Outcome 1: Possess global literacy, including knowledge of geography, history, current world issues
and similarities and differences among cultures. This will be accomplished by exploring the citys various
cultural and historical sites and by being immersed in the culture to learn as much about it as I can to be able to
highlight the key similarities and differences to our own culture.
Learning Outcome 2: Interact with individuals from different cultures and express a sensitivity, appreciation and
respect for the complex range of experiences of diverse peoples. Visiting the markets, roadside vendors, and
various outdoor food courts that we always go to while there and interacting with the locals there will accomplish
this. Through this, I can learn even more about the culture, especially its day-to-day operations gain even more of
an understanding of the differences in an effort to learn to be more culturally sensitive.

3. Connection to Goals and Academic Theories (include reference list, as appropriate)

A. This project contributes to my future personal goals because it will help me to become a betterrounded person. It will also teach me about my heritage and where my mothers family came from, what
they went through and how they lived/live their lives. It will contribute to my professional goals because
being the most well rounded person you can be really makes you a better doctor. Not only that, but it will
help getting into medical school itself. Medical schools are looking for well-rounded individuals now and
I can draw on these experiences to prove even more that I am a well-rounded individual.
B. One resource that I will use will be the book Modern Dreams: An Inquiry Into Power, Cultural
Production, and the Cityscape in Contemporary Urban Penang, Malaysia by Beng-Lan Goh. I will be
able to supplement what I am experiencing in country with this book that describes what modern Penang,
Malaysia is like and connect what I am seeing with what is being said about it by someone who has lived
there and experienced it all their life.

4. Initiative, Independence, and/or Creativity

One unique aspect that I would bring to this project is that I have experienced the culture before and know some
things such as how to act in certain situations and how to get around the island fairly well. Because of this, I am able
to explore everything that I want to much more in depth because I dont have to go through the preliminary learning
stages and shock that comes with being engrossed in another culture. I will be able to get right to work and work
effectively.

5. Reflection
My reflection will come in the form of a journal that I will write in every night. It will include a list of the days
activities and what I took away from those activities. There are not any specific questions that I will be asking but
rather, the things that I had taken away from the day and what I had learned about the culture and history. Also, I
would write about how this compares to our own culture and what I can learn from it.

6. Dissemination
The ideal way to share my personal experience would be by working at the Study Abroad fair and sharing with other
students that want to travel my experiences and what I took away from it. I would hopefully inspire other students to
do a project similar to mine where they explore their familys history and where they came from.

7. Project Advisor(s)
My project advisor will be my mother, Cynthia Khoo-Robinson. She would be the perfect advisor because of her
extensive knowledge not only on the culture and places that I should visit, but also on the logistics of getting there.
She would be a great help in teaching me how to plan a trip half way around the world. I could draw on her
knowledge of good places to visit around the island and she could help me greatly in planning my day-to-day
itinerary.
Cynthia Khoo-Robinson
(513) 281-3968
ckr@uc.edu

8. Budget (if applicable)

Total travel expenses: $12,172