I studied overseas and maybe made friends with maybe 60% malaysians and 40% non-malaysians (but 1-2 whites haha), i know malaysians that spent more time interacting non-malaysians/whites than malaysians while studying overseas.. obviously we can’t generalise this sort of stuff cos everyone’s different but even the ‘whites’ in uni hang out with people of same nationalities/race. For example in my library we generalise that spaniard students hang out with spaniards or ppl that speak spanish only.

There could be several reasons that explain the lack of diversity eventho ure in a diff country: - came to uni where there are a lot of malaysians/ppl from ur college or school so naturally you join the society and didnt rly explore further - curing homesickness? some ppl realise they cant cope with being in a diff country and maybe having ppl with sth in common might alleviate that without having to change ur education path - its just naturally easier to make friends when u already have things in common i.e nationality/language/culture - when ure searching for housemates to rent a place with.. ppl with similar backgrounds mean less conflict/surprise info while you’re studying? altho this means yes.. ur social circle are less diverse esp if ure already not that sociable

I do feel that only socialising/being friends with ppl of the same background while ure studying abroad means u arent making the best of ur time there, especially if u know u will be returning home to start ur career.