The Day I Decided To Leave Malaysia

I feel lucky that I have been blessed with such a wonderful life. Can you imagine at 18 I had a car of my own, no curfew, a room with my very own television, air conditioning as well as 2 beds to choose from? In addition to that, I was studying the field of study that I love and had a great bunch of friends and family surrounding me.

So why in the world would anybody be so stupid to choose willingly might I add, to runaway from such comforts and luxury? Seems rather stupid that I chose to runaway from the pinnacle of my teenage life?

The truth of the matter is that I was never really one to care about education until I went to NS and realise how much I have taken for granted and thankfully it was not too late for me to turn things around. I'm not shy to say that I did fairly well in college but maybe one of the reasons why is because I actually enjoyed what I was studying, either way I did have to hear my parents nag about results.

It was not till June last year when I started considering the possibility of going overseas to further my studies however when the first boat came around (A semester at Limkokwing London) I turned it down due to several reasons:

1. My parents were not prepared financially
2. I was just beginning to get used to life at Limkokwing, Cyberjaya
3. I was scared

Nevertheless, the thought of going to another country to study never left my mind and I started doing research on my own on the possibility of maybe doing my degree at Australia, hence, IDP! IDP is a international educational counselling group that is owned by Australian Universities, to help international students pursue their studies at the land down under. So as a student who was in unfamiliar waters, I did the smart thing and apply for any university which I thought looked nice, well known or most importantly had the course I wanted.

Below is the result of my application:

1. The University of Melbourne (Rejected due to unrecognised foundation)
2. The University of Adelaide (Rejected due to unrecognised foundation)
3. Griffith University (Conditional offer)
4. Curtin University of Technology (Conditional offer)
5. RMIT University (Full offer)

Sadly I'm just like every other human, I'm not perfect, which is why two of the top universities in Australia chose not to accept me which was a little bitter nevertheless expected. However, the glass was still half full as I got a few offers and I think the most unforgettable one is from RMIT. Curtin and Griffith was a university that my dad insisted and suggested I apply for as a few of his journalist (Niki Cheong for example) graduated from there. However, none of them ever spoke to me in spite of Griffith being in Gold Coast, I still never found it as appealing compared to the rest. Finally, when the offer from RMIT came, I was jumping so much that I couldn't control my emotions! My dad who is not quite an emotional man even told me for the first time in my life "RMIT is a good university and I'm proud of you for getting in".

He was very skeptical about me applying there as he did not want to see my confidence torn down when or if they rejected me but I was ever so determine to prove him wrong and I'm proud to say that I did. Until today, I truly believe that had it be any other university (excluding ivy leagues university) he would have been rather reluctant to let me go.

Anyway, getting back to my story, after getting accepted I was still thinking if I should go or not or if I should defer my offer or not as there were many things going on in my life at that point of time such as my grandmothers knee surgery. It came to a point where I even considered deferring my offer to February 2011 as I was just plain scared!

But then one day, just before I went to sleep, It just hit me that this is something I needed to do. Have you ever watched the movie "40 Year Old Virgin"? Even if you haven't I'm sure the title gives it all away and I was sure that if I stayed in Malaysia to pursue my higher education, I would end up exactly like that! I did not want independence but the fact is, independence is something that I need.

If you watched the show Legion, there'll be one part Michael asks Gabriel "Do you always give god what he wants or what he needs?" and long story short Michael won that battle and its no different here. The fun train can only go for so long as eventually reality will hit back and when it does, I'm going to fall from grace so hard, my brain will pop out.

So that was the day I decided or I knew, I had to go Melbourne to study. I now realise that I am not only going there for the degree, I'm going there for a life experience.

Anyway below are some of the pictures taken by Chiet Chun and Shauyin during my farewell lunch today:

P.S. Hear Hear for everybody who helped make today a success, it was the best farewell a friend could get!

(The Living Legend is afraid of sleeping tonight knowing that it will be the last time he wakes up in his own bed)