It was about 5 hours into the 12 hour flight from London's Heathrow Airport to KLIA. I was sitting quietly in my seat, pretending to watch 'Akilah and the Spelling Bee'. However, my mind was far away from the movie.
'Am I making the right decision?' I ask myself for the thousandth time. 'Is this the right decision for me to return back to Malaysia?'
Just a couple of months ago, I was a Neuroscience student in Cardiff University, located in the capital city of Wales. Cardiff is a nice place, with a nice atmosphere and friendly people. However, I'll now admit- I struggled like I've never before for the entire three years of my course. Not that it was tough – well it was a tough course, but somehow my heart just wasn't into it. Having lost my interest in the course and studies in general, I toiled all the way through and just managed to squeeze through with a 2nd class Honors degree. My struggles made me think twice and reevalute my initial plan of proceeding to undertake a Masters and consequently and PhD degree in Neuroscience.
Seeing my anguish and desperation, my mum decided to offer me an alternative- to study medicine back in Malaysia ( I couldn't do medicine in UK because I didn't manage to enter through UCAS the last time I applied). That suggestion was greated with an even less enthusiastic response from me. Medicine back in Malaysia? Can it even reach half the standard of medical degrees overseas? Will I ever have a life ever again? The truth was, I had this secret desire to undertake journalism and become a writer someday. However, not a single person I confessed my silent wish to would have any of it.
So there I was in the plane back to Malaysia, having made the decision to not continue Neuroscience and start afresh with medicine instead. A thousand thoughts filled my mind. What if I don't like medicine as well? I cannot afford to quit and change to yet another course. What if I find it too stressful to cope with? What if I don't get along with my housemates and my coursemates?
*one week later*
I was standing outside the multipurpose hall on the top floor of the Bukit Jalil campus in IMU during registration day. My mum and I exchanged unspoken words. The pleading look in my eyes said it all. If it was at all possible, I would've considered catching the next flight back to the UK.
However, what occurred within the next few months or so did wonders to make me do a 360 degree turn regarding that uncertainty of mine.
Orientation week, which I entered with trepidation, turned out to be one of the most memorable weeks I would ever have in my life (I'm sure most of you would agree to this :p). No doubt, I had never ever gotten this dirty before in my entire life, I had never had this much fun too. It was the first time I had an interesting combination of flour, butter and eggs stuck on my hair, the first time I heard of the 'caterpillar crawl' let alone do one, the first time I ran as far as I did during the Treasure Hunt. And my orientation group mates and my O.Os are great people. The IMU Cup, through the cheerleading competition, gave me some memorable moments as well, although our batch didn't win.
And I'm very grateful to have such wonderful housemates and coursemates as well. Whether it is just a simple smile, or a quick 'hi' to shopping trips to MidValley and Carrefour, they make me feel really accepted into the family.
As far as the lecturers are concerned, although certain lecturers are a bit harder to comprehend (maybe because of their strong accent *hint*) and some others give out lecture notes which are hard to follow, but they are all great and qualified lecturers who try the best they can to impart their knowledge to us future doctors. Through the Problem Based Learning (PBL) sessions, we learn to really work as a team and learn to adopt efficient methods of searching for information and presenting the information which we had extracted.
So all in all, nearly 2 months since first joining the IMU family, I feel like I've already integrated myself into the family, and I believe that most, if not all of my batchmates feel the same way. The only complaints I have are…… the lack of dining places around the campus, (We only have a choice between the school canteen and the stalls outside vista B) and lectures being held ridiculously early in the morning (Ok, I'll admit that I'm not a morning person :p)
To put it all in a nutshell – I love you, IMU, and I am looking forward to an exciting adventure with you and developing as a person throughout the next 5 years that I would be here.
