My last week in UKM

After spending more than five weeks in Malaysia, I find it hard to leave. During my stay I didn’t feel homesick because everyone made me feel home.  Although I can’t wait to see my family, friends and my university, leaving was so hard.  However staying in UKM in Malaysia was a real challenge, I learned a lot from this experience. Coming to a country doesn’t speak my first language, Arabic, being exposed to different life styles and traditions, meeting people from different backgrounds with different attitudes, getting out of my comfort zone and working in an international environment, gave another 10 year experience to my age. 

During my five week stay in Malaysia, I learned and educated others about HIV AIDS, I met good and made new friends, I got the chance to see new places, I met different people but was able to tolerate and accept their thoughts. After this rich experience I feel more independent, more experienced problem solving, more adaptable to various conditions and more respectable of the others. 

Hard times, sleepless nights and stressful moments were inevitable, but rather than breaking me, they made me. Hard times made me stronger and made me appreciate the value of time management.

When I am at my dear home, Egypt, I will always remember my first abroad country, the first lesson I learned, the first group I taught, about HIV, the first friend I met, the first mistake I did, the first dance, the first tear and the first laugh. 

Hend El-Taher