What do you miss the most about your home country?
THE FOOD! I feel the food here is so bland and it is kind of expensive to get the food that is very close to my country. I am a fan of spicy food and seafood. One of my favourite seafood is squid which I can only found being served in certain restaurants. I also miss the varieties of fresh fruits juices that can easily be found  in the local affordable restaurant. Here in St. Paul, most of the juices are prepacked and the freshly made juices are quite expensive.

 

 What are the biggest differences you see between the university experience here and in your home country?

I would say the requirement of having a meal plan. From what I know most colleges and universities in Malaysia do not have or required student to have a meal plan. We do have cafeteria and dining area, and the food providers are not from a major company. The school that I went to before transferring to St Catherine University, the owner contribute a lot in making the foods and they only have 3 workers. Even schools in primary and secondary do not have meal plans and hire a major company to run the cafeteria.
 

 

Why did you want to come to study in the United States and to St. Kate's in particular?
Well, this is a long story. Since young I have always wanted to go to boarding school. I have applied for a boarding school for high school but never got accepted. My experience of studying abroad in the UK when I was about 15 to 18 years old have some influence in my decision. I found the things and subjects that I am passionate about while living in the UK. Which was being active in sports activity. I was really impressed of how PE was taught while I was in school in the UK as my experience of PE in my school in Malaysia was not fully well develop to motivate students to learn more about being physically active and developing a healthy lifestyle. I was accepted to one of the universities there in the UK after finishing my A-level, but my family could not support me to study there as my parents were currently supporting my brother in his study over there. Studying in the US was actually my plan B for wanting to study abroad but I believe that the US has many programs that relate to exercise science as my country is gradually developing in this field. Studying in the US is also cheaper than the UK and I was able to find a college in Malaysia called INTI that provides an American Degree Transfer program where I could do my first year of the American degree in Malaysia before transferring my credits to any US universities. This helps me a lot in tuition fee as I would only have to study in the US less than 3 years to completes my undergraduates degree.

 

What would you say was your most memorable moment, during your time here?
There are so many to choose, but one of my favorites would be performing a song called “Sahabat” originally sing by Najwa Latif feat Sleeq & Syamkamarul with my lovely friend Odilia Mentari at Celebrasia which was organized by AWA. Odi is from Indonesia and our native language is very similar which is called Malay. Our major differences in the way we speak are our dialect and accent. The difference is like American English and British English. I feel good that I was able to educate and share my country’s culture to the members of St Kates community with my hobby of singing and I am hoping to educate more people in the future using many different talents that I have. Educating is the main purpose, I entertain to educate.

 

What advice would you give to other students?
For International students, I would recommend you to take part in the friendship family programs here at St Kates. My friendship family have provided me a great support in settling into St Kates. I am always invited to their family holiday dinner like Thanksgiving and Christmas which somehow help me with some of my homesickness. And they are a big help when I need to do some groceries shopping that requires a car. They are always there willing to help and give me their support in any way that they can.   

For students that just started to enter college or experience college or university life, I would encourage you to participate in any students clubs or organizations that are available in your university. Do not afraid to take leadership roles. This will help you to be more confident in meeting new people and developing leadership skills that are valuable and useful in your later career life.

 

What are you passionate about in life?
My passion in life has somehow changed while living here in St. Catherine University. I feel that I need to be more involved with the community. My current passion is boxing and music. I discovered boxing while living here in St PauI. Meeting people outside of St Kates community had made me met with my current boxing coach. She is an inspiring young Muslim boxer that I will be going to miss when I go back to Malaysia.  Therefore, I am hoping that someday I could open a boxing gym of my own back in my country to carry the passion she had shown me in boxing and used it as a way of encouraging people to exercise and be physically active. I have a dream that someday I could also compete in boxing competition either locally or internationally in amateur boxing and build a group of passionate female boxers. My passion in singing has always been there inside of me. Having the courage to sing in front of people is the obstacle that I need to go through. In order to show how passionate I am, I would like to use my hobby of singing to educate people with important issues and topics that occur in our current society either locally or globally. Therefore, I would love to have the opportunity to perform in charity and awareness events.

 

What’s a memorable moment you have had with your Friendship Family?
Creating a good and close relationship with my friendship family is one of my memorable moment with them. I really appreciate the time that they would take to spent with me and letting me be involved with their family activities. My friendship family had just started in being a new parent when I first met them. They had a son and soon he will be turning 2 as December 2015 pass. I really enjoy in being part of some of their son early encounters of new experiences. In the recent Halloween, their son had just experienced his first “trick or treat” and he insisted that I walked with him to the door of a house to get some candy which makes me feel really happy that day. Hearing he says my name was also memorable to me as he can pronounce it better than most adults who had attempted poorly in pronouncing my name for the first time.