Just one night away from waking up in a new country, I can definitely say 2018 could not have given me a better start. It surely was not the right time to think about travelling or how to start 2018 whilst preparing for the semester exams last year. Nevertheless, it was all worth it when I got an email in early November saying I was fortunate enough to be a part of the New Colombo Plan Grant 2018 funded program held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The program runs over a three week period looking into Malaysia’s culture, economics, history, politics and as well as researching into the my relevant disciple i.e. biomedical engineering.
Stuck between a lot of excitement and nervousness, I am looking forward to each and every day of this trip- the new friendships, new country, new people, the jet lag which is yet to be mentioned, thinking about family back home, the nervousness as I land KLIA, learning new aspects of my career and most of all, the memories that are yet to be made with everyone.
Having chosen biomedical engineering, I believe that this trip will definitely be considered an asset in my career. I will be interacting with a new community and new expectations. This will give me an opportunity to seek and find what me as an engineer can give back to a different community by forcing myself to think outside the box, to get out of the comfort zone. I realise that this trip will be a memorable one for not only me, but also each of us in the group.
Looking forward to and very excited to meet everyone!
Jesvin Varghese, Bachelor of Engineering (Biomedical)/Master of Engineering (Biomedical) student, participating in ‘Investigating history, culture, politics and science and technology capability of Malaysia’ funded by New Colombo Plan in January 2018