"If you Dare to Dream, Dare to Live a Life that no one else Dare to Live"
-Saiful Amri-
It has been exactly 4 months and 2 days since I left my home in search of a better future. Some people say that I might not be able to survive. Some people say that I am better off here in Malaysia. Some people give me words of wisdom and encouragement to go and pursue my dreams. I was left with two choices; go Cardiff or stay in UTM. It was obvious that Cardiff will be my definite choice. But at that moment I was still naive, young, and have not yet been able to think like a true adult and thus, doubts began to overcome me. I seek assurance and re-assurance from my parents and my friends.
It has been exactly 4 months and 2 days since I left my home in search of a better future. Some people say that I might not be able to survive. Some people say that I am better off here in Malaysia. Some people give me words of wisdom and encouragement to go and pursue my dreams. I was left with two choices; go Cardiff or stay in UTM. It was obvious that Cardiff will be my definite choice. But at that moment I was still naive, young, and have not yet been able to think like a true adult and thus, doubts began to overcome me. I seek assurance and re-assurance from my parents and my friends.
I was thinking at first "How is it like, living in Cardiff? Will I have friends like I had back home? Will they be the same? Am I going to have a culture shock?". But I stick with my decision to go abroad in order to challenge those who doubted me back home. I gave up my time in mamak stalls, watching live football late at night while eating nasi goreng ayam, shisha with Loo, play Winning Eleven with Felix and Hardeep, etc to go for studies in a foreign country.
Sept 19th 2007 marked the last day for me to spend time in Malaysia for the year 2007. Somehow, I didn't feel any sadness in me when I realised that I was about to leave Malaysia, my home. I even told my parents that they don't have to accompany me to the last point before I walked past the guards. There, I met up with Wei Qiang and his other friends (seriously, I forgot their names, heh...) and the one who save literally saved my life during my first few weeks there, my 姐姐 or big sister in English, Tee Chyi Chern. Me and Chern, as I called her, had a funny history together, well, our parents actually. It turned out that my mom and her dad were classmates during their university days in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, hereafter identified as UTM. Funnily, I actually met her during the pre-departure briefing in Sheraton Imperial a few months before that but at that moment, we were just "hey, how are you" sort of thing. But we did get along when we were in the plane heading towards Cardiff and yes, she is my "guardian angel" here, along with Sara Lim, of whom I met right after we registered for our respective houses.
During my first few weeks here, I was still a noob a.k.a novice/amateur or whatever you want to describe it, at cooking. The only thing I knew, back then, to cook is just simple stuff like nuggets, maggi mee i.e junk food. So for a month, I was eating over at their place almost everyday (they fed me, literally..) and I started learning from them. They are my 2 friends that I'll treasure for the rest of my life. Without them, I would have been dead by November. Seriously. Since Sara and Chern are doing Law and I am currently undertaking Accounting and Finance course, so there are not too many opportunities these days to see them. And honestly, I am quite a loner if they are not around. Of course, I have other friends as well such as Farah, Tash, Nina, Julie, Nash, Shaq, Chong, etc but without the CHERA (as quoted by Divan, Sara+Chern= CHERA), I am practically lonely. I feel like I am new to Cardiff if they are not there.
So, I decided to join a few societies here in Cardiff. I was appointed as the 1st Year Representative for the Malaysian Student Society Cardiff (MSSCF) by Ivanpal, the President based on the fact that I know quite a lot of people in Cardiff. I was a little flattered when I heard this because I only a few people here in Cardiff but most of them are Committee members, so I guess that is where they notice my 'potential'. But yeah, I did accept the appointment along with Charlaine Chin and Dhyau. Although my post mainly deals with 1st years i.e acts as a medium between the Committee and the 1st years, but I do a whole lot more than that. Raising sponsorship for FOD (Festival Of Diversity), served food for the Minister of Higher Education (Datuk Mustapha Mohamad), etc are just part of the things that I do here. Honestly, I don't do much as a 1st Year Representative as they are a little bit hard in the head. I am not against them or anything but I am only against the fact that they are not exploring things here. All they do is just stick inside their clan of scholars and just do everything as a group. I am not even sure if they have a life. I mean, if I was a scholar, sponsored by the government, I would not just go and do my degree. The whole point of being sponsored is for us to get a degree wherever we are, and at the same time, see the world, learn how they study, and bring back the good qualities back home and leave the bad qualities. But as far as I can see, the scholars, as brainy as they are, they are not exploring enough. all they think is just to get a degree so they could pass the requirement for them to continue working with the body that is sponsoring them. This is something that I am really sad about.
Again, I have to leave my post to hang for now. I am a student and my main priority is study and so, I have to say "I'm sorry" and I promise, both this post and the one that precede it will be completed, hopefully by the end of this week. Till then, cheers!
So, I decided to join a few societies here in Cardiff. I was appointed as the 1st Year Representative for the Malaysian Student Society Cardiff (MSSCF) by Ivanpal, the President based on the fact that I know quite a lot of people in Cardiff. I was a little flattered when I heard this because I only a few people here in Cardiff but most of them are Committee members, so I guess that is where they notice my 'potential'. But yeah, I did accept the appointment along with Charlaine Chin and Dhyau. Although my post mainly deals with 1st years i.e acts as a medium between the Committee and the 1st years, but I do a whole lot more than that. Raising sponsorship for FOD (Festival Of Diversity), served food for the Minister of Higher Education (Datuk Mustapha Mohamad), etc are just part of the things that I do here. Honestly, I don't do much as a 1st Year Representative as they are a little bit hard in the head. I am not against them or anything but I am only against the fact that they are not exploring things here. All they do is just stick inside their clan of scholars and just do everything as a group. I am not even sure if they have a life. I mean, if I was a scholar, sponsored by the government, I would not just go and do my degree. The whole point of being sponsored is for us to get a degree wherever we are, and at the same time, see the world, learn how they study, and bring back the good qualities back home and leave the bad qualities. But as far as I can see, the scholars, as brainy as they are, they are not exploring enough. all they think is just to get a degree so they could pass the requirement for them to continue working with the body that is sponsoring them. This is something that I am really sad about.
Again, I have to leave my post to hang for now. I am a student and my main priority is study and so, I have to say "I'm sorry" and I promise, both this post and the one that precede it will be completed, hopefully by the end of this week. Till then, cheers!
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