Hello everyone and welcome back! I hope everyone’s semester 2 is off to a good start, today we have another member blog to share with you all! I hope you enjoy!
Hi, my name is Hebatalla Kamaluddin Nurdin and I am in my second year of university, but I have experienced studying in four different universities! I am an Indonesian but grew up in Malaysia. After finishing 5 years of high school, I spent a year doing a pre-medicine foundation year at the Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM). Though I never really aimed to become a doctor, I am very enthusiastic about biology and chemistry. Becoming a doctor seemed really cool in the eye of the 18-year-old me at that time, but I just don’t have the passion for it, and that is the biggest problem. As someone who is very passionate about everything she does in her life, I can’t shake off the feelings that something huge was missing in my heart in this path that I was pursuing. It made me restless, ‘Am I really making the right choice?’. I didn’t want to spend 6 years at the university only to realise my passion lies somewhere else. That’s when I stumbled upon the sci-fiction trilogy ‘This Mortal Coil’ by Emily Suvada that explores the dystopian future where genetic manipulation is used by civilians to fight against the deadly virus. Though it is only a science fiction story, but it was enough to ignite a fire in my heart; the curiosity to learn more about the intricate building block of life. To be a researcher!
So, plan B. I know I’ve been dreaming of studying abroad since I was a kid (though technically I’ve been living abroad since I was born, but that doesn’t count). So, why not use this chance to choose a different degree program AND to study abroad? In my last semester, I juggled my schoolwork and applying for a lot of scholarships abroad. It wasn’t an easy feat, as the pandemic made it incredibly difficult to go out to prepare the paperwork. Rejection after rejection came, until finally I got a congratulatory email that I was accepted to study biochemistry at the University of Bucharest in Romania! So, my journey starts there, I ended up moving across the world to a foreign country all by myself. Since it is mandatory for me to do my degree in Romanian language, I did the Romanian language preparatory year program at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE) before finally starting my biochemistry degree. Now, I can confidently say that the craziest thing that I did in my life is to move to a new country and do my degree in a foreign language that I learnt for less than a year!
After working very hard trying to catch up my Romanian peers during my first year at the university, with countless of cups of tears everyday during the examination seasons praying very hard to pass the exams, I got another scholarship to go to the UK under the Erasmus+ exchange program! So here I am finally in Glasgow, doing my second year of my degree after moving through 3 different universities. It was certainly a wild journey for me. But the takeaway from this is to not let your fears hold you back from doing the things you are passionate about! If I was scared to live abroad by myself at 19 years old, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to study the degree program I want, or be independent away from my family. I wouldn’t get the chance to learn a new language, or to meet many new amazing people, and most importantly, I wouldn’t get the chance to prove to myself that I can do it. As a shy and timid girl growing up being intimidated by literally everything, I wouldn’t have imagined my future to be like this. But sometimes, it just takes courage to break free from your shell. So, never doubt yourself. You can’t imagine where you’ll end up after saying ‘yes’ to yourself
Women in STEM University of Glasgow 