Today, they overcome their initial apprehension and adapted themselves to the challenge, and the cold weather.
"We were quite apprehensive initially when offered to learn Mandarin here but we managed to adapt to the curriculum and the environment," said Syazwan Shamim, 19, of Melaka.
He is among 54 students who accepted the Education Ministry's offer to learn Mandarin at the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), a world renowned language institution here.
"I am determined to master the language; this is in line with the 1Malaysia concept in which the people should understand one another," he said when met after performing the Friday prayers at Niujie Mosque, the oldest and biggest mosque in this Chinese capital city.
Muhaimi Razali, 21, from Kelantan said although difficult, he was determined to learn the language.
"I'm all prepared to face the challenge and that is why I agreed to sign an eight-year contract with the education ministry before coming here," he said.
The course will run for five years.
About 100 Malaysian students are taking up Mandarin at the university.
The move to send Malaysian students at the BFSU, which offers 36 language courses including Malay, is a follow up to the effort to internationalise the Malaysian education system.
Hishammuddin Hussein, who was then the education minister, visited the university on May 21, 2007, resulting in the signing of a memorandum on the exchange of students between the ministry's teachers' education division and the BFSU.
I remember the event all too well as I was part of his delegation.
Hishammuddin broke new ground being the first Malaysian Education Minister to visit China after 10 years.
