#strangernation

I Talk To Strangers is exactly what it is. Talking to strangers. 

I am so blessed to be a part of this movement or campaign or whatever you wanna call it, and I am so glad that I was given this opportunity to actually experience this inspirational, mind-blowing, life-changing event. Redha, a friend of mine actually invited me and the first event that I actually went was at my Faculty. Let me walk you through how I was changed, completely.

I did not wanna go, I feel weird that I have to talk to strangers like what should I talk about, what is the purpose of this thing? What do I gain out of it? I feel so uncomfortable! Why would I even put myself through awkwardness, I hate it! Redha was insisting that I should come even though I keep making up excuses saying that I don't have transportation to go there, that I have nobody that I know, I don't wanna be awkward and all that, but I ended up going anyways, because well he is my friend and I need to support him.

It changed me, completely. When you talk to people who are not like you, you'll discover things that you can never actually imagine you know about yourself. The experience you gain living through their stories is magnificent, it's unbelievable how just talking to people, random strangers can actually change you as a person. Both sides get to express their opinions, thoughts and discuss about issues and everything is so meaningful, I never feel like I have enough time with them, these strangers!

The way Robbie Stokes (US) talk, it is captivating and motivational, Zikry (Incitement, Malaysia) is just inspirational for us young Malaysians. Then I get to talk to Natalia (Poland) and Lucie (Czech Republic) and they're just two amazing women, they taught me a lot in the little time that we spent together.

When I got back from the event, I was in a hyped up mood I wanted to share the experience with everyone, so I convinced my friends (Izzyan, Latun, Azrie) to join the next event which was yesterday (9th Dec 2014). I am so glad that they decided to go on this journey with me, and their reaction was the best, this is exactly why Robbie Stokes started this movement, now I get him. The night was just full of positive energy, and just a bunch of strangers from all walks of life hanging out, talking to each other. We're all literally from different nationality and background, faith and belief and different age and gender. Afghanistan, Sudan, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Pakistan, Argentina... and the list goes on, it is mind blowing how different and alike we are at the same time. I get to spent a lot of time with Lupe from Argentina that evening, she's the coolest person ever! We also get to talk to Robbie more, and discuss about proactive actions that we wanna take to initiate a social movement. 

After the event, I asked my friends, "How was your experience? Was it like how I described it?" and they answered, "Even better, I never thought that I could be doing something like this, ever." EXACTLY. That is the reason why I wanted them to participate instead of just listening to me gushing about it, because it goes beyond my words, it impacts you personally, it is something that I cannot fully describe with words. I am just so glad that somehow I am a little bit responsible for the change in them, I am glad we are going to change the world together.We even continued the discussion at a Kopitiam afterwards!