QabilZahari
Dear Mom,
I hope you are not missing me too much back at home. I know how much you love pestering me to drive you to shopping malls ever since I’ve got my driving license. But now, unfortunately, you only have Dad to do it for you. But don’t fret Mom, I’ll be coming back home this summer and this time I’ll drive you to every existing shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur because honestly, I am missing those times I spent talking, laughing, and joking with you in the car. Reminiscing every moment made me realise how I really treasure you in me.
These past 6 months in Newcastle had been unbelievable for me. Oh Mom, if I were to tell you every single encounter I made every single day in the University, one letter won’t be enough I’d say. I am glad that Dad had encouraged me to study here in the UK. It turned out to be better than I had imagined. You know how fascinated I am towards science and meeting people, well my faculty is incredibly huge and there are lots of people I am interacting with now. They even assigned me a personal tutor. He is such a friendly person and I like talking to him. We usually discuss about my academics and sometimes we talk about my future career. I know Mom, this is a serious matter but do not worry, I am in good hands. Not to mention I also have a 3rd year mentor of my own. She consults my studies from time to time, keeping me in the right track as a first year student. Apart from that, the laboratories here are amazing. For the very first time, I learnt how to use machines. I won’t be only watching YouTubevideos anymore for centrifugation or spectrophotometry experiments. I am expected to handle more sophisticated equipment later on according to my fellow seniors in 2nd and 3rd years. I can hardly wait!
Do you remember the last time you, Grandma and AuntDa sent me a post with cooking recipes and spices? I am happy to tell youthat I can self-declare myself as a good cook now. I have made several exquisite dishes for my friends, and they loved it. Can you believe that your pampered son now can cook? You name it, dishesranging from Eastern to Western cuisines. Amazing isn’t it. Now you can leave dinner to big brother and me. Well, not all the time though. Do wait patiently for our return this summer! I usually go to the markets in the City Centre to get my vegetables and fruits. They got a whole variety of food and I do my groceries there every now and then. Some items can be pretty cheap, especially when there are promotions and deals in big stores like ASDA, Tesco and Waitrose. There are also lots of oriental food stores here in Newcastle as well! At first, I was quite surprised when I flipped through a product and it was labelled ‘Made in Malaysia’, I bought it almost immediately. Not that I really need it but I was just happy to see a part of my country is a part of another. There’s the bit of the diversity I was looking for, no matter how small or insignificant it was but that somehow made me feel more at home.
I have to tell you that there’s a family here whom I regard as my own. They live just blocks away from where I am living in now so we usually bumped into one another either on the road or the metro. They are a lovable family of 5. If they gladly include me in, it would actually be 6. Just by saying this you can probably notice how close I am associating them with me. They are that important. I thank God for bestowing upon me such great people in my life. I would love to tell you more about them but I believe a letter alone would not be enough to describe the bond we forged even in just a few months. I’d rather tell you in person when I get back. I’m sure you will come to love them too.
The recent Easter holiday, I planned to visit big brother over in France but my friends and I somehow ended up travelling up north to Scotland instead. We went all the way to Inverness via Edinburgh,then down to Fort William and finally to Glasgow before returning back to Newcastle. We rented a car because we prefer travelling on the road, enjoying the sceneries along the way. Scotland was undeniably beautiful; the incomprehensible beauty of nature, the fine architecture of the buildings in the cities and the vast sky scraping mountains. We stopped at every possible stopping point and took numerous pictures with our fancy DSLRs. The view was indeed spectacular from every angle. It was breath taking. I guess I am feeling what William Shakespeare felt in his play- ‘As You Like It ‘, where he said, ‘I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it’-(Quote Act II, scene IV). A week after returning to Newcastle, I took a ride on a cruise ship Mom!Guess where to? To Amsterdam! I am feeling even luckier to studyhere.I used to think that I inherited Dad’s gene, because I travel whenever I get the opportunity to do so just like he always does. The port of Tyne was big, not to mention the ships there. I’ll tell you more of my 3 days 2 nights journey on the cruise next time. It requires its own story to be written.
Mom, there’s a girl I like in my biomedical course. I’m at the brink of infatuation now. My scientific friend told mescientifically that it is the rising surge oftestosterone men usually experience at my age. While I on the other hand, being more poetic and slightly less scientific feelthat love is rather irrational. It just happens when it wants to happen. Imagine in a lecture theatre consisting of 323 students, my eyes were fixedon only one person – mesmerised by her unparalleled beauty. By then I figured Plato was right,’Beauty is certainly a soft, smooth, and slippery thing, and therefore of a nature which easily slips in and permeates our souls’. Fortunately for me though, the University lecturers were so good in creating this‘lecturing’ atmosphere, that I had no choice but to delve into their world of ever-evolving science and explore it with them. Physiology is and will always be my most favourite module out of the three, Pharmacology being my personal least of favourites while Microbiology & Immunology have been fairly interesting to me. Overall I love them all, no discrimination! Seminars are held quite often to recap what we had learned in previous lectures. It helps sometimes for students like me who usually needs to revise in a consistent manner otherwise I tend to forget what I had just learned. Well, most of the time I will be revising in the medical school library. Every essential thing that I need is just there. A café, computer clusters, and most importantly scientific journals and text books. But you can’t compare it with the University’s main library. It has its own building. You have to come here and see for yourself to believe how big it really is.Back to my initial point, my love story won’t distract me from my studies, so no worries. For your information, I did quite well in my recent in-course tests. Just be glad and happy that your son is living his life as a normal manhere in a foreign land.
‘I doubted if I should ever come back,
I shall be telling this with a sigh,
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.’
- Robert Frost,TheRoad Not Taken
Articulating these compelling emotions verbally to someone or writing it down on a piece of paper just wouldn’t satisfy me. I have a dream. I want to do something that could create an impact on someone’s life,something that could motivate other people.I want to let the world know how this University has shaped me to become the person I am now. But ‘How to do it?’ was a question left unanswered for several months. Not until Newcastle University once again gave me an opportunity to fulfil this selfish dream of mine – through a film making competition ‘Through My Lens’. If I succeed in winning this, it will be my greatest achievement yet since I’ve entered a University. So, after all those hard work manifestingmy feelings into reality, Mom, currently I am leadingin this competition and several parts of the world had already watched the film my friends and I made.My ‘Life-upon-Tyne’. This is it. I am living my dream. I am portraying the life which I was and still so blessed with and sharing it with the whole world. I am forever grateful to God for setting me in His plan. Thank you Mom, Dad. I wouldn’t be experiencing what I am experiencing now without both of you playing such significant role in my life and perhaps that has made all the difference. Well, looking forward to seeing you this summer.
Until then, take care.
Lots of love,
Qabil
P/S: Ask Dad to open the YouTube channel for you and have a look at my film. The title is Life-Upon-Tyne. Hope you’ll enjoy it.