Hello! My name is Tricia Lai and I am a second-year Biomedical Science student at the University of Surrey, along with another fellow student ambassador, Ying Thong. Yes, that’s me in the picture; I may or may not look a little different since I started living here. It has just been about slightly more of a year of living in Guildford now (since starting in September 2018), and I must say that it has been more enjoyable than I had initially thought!
For one thing, the Malaysian Society at the University of Surrey has been and still is a great help whenever I feel homesick. Not to toot my own horn but I even happen to be the Creative and Media Director of the Malaysian Society. I would just love to help incoming students just like the Malaysian society has helped me.
As for my course, I am loving it so far! Lectures can feel very heavy quite often but that doesn’t stop me from learning. I was very glad when I found out that the first year was basically going through the basics of each module, as opposed to diving straight past A-Level topics. This was a great relief to me because I actually did not do A-Levels. In fact, after completing SPM, I had undergone Australian Matriculation and obtained WACE (Western Australian Certificate of Education). I’m just really glad that it didn’t hinder me from being able to study at this wonderful university, both because they accepted my qualification and that not knowing A-Level material would not matter as much. The lecturers spent the first year reviewing A-Level equivalent material but also dove deeper into certain topics.
How did I get to know of this university? Honestly, I had initially found out about it from an alumnus of the Guildford School of Acting. Quite a strange leap from acting to biomedical science, isn’t it? Well, after finding out about the Guildford School of Acting, I soon discovered what else the University of Surrey offered. It also just so happened that the Innovation of Health Building was built around the time I started researching about the university. That really drew me towards furthering studies into biomedical science. While pondering the idea of studying in the UK, I also wondered if I would enjoy living here. As someone who doesn’t really like the idea of living in the hustle and bustle of London, I find Guildford to be a perfect location. I am able to live in peace and quiet but if I wanted to venture out, London is just a 40-minute train ride away.
I think that is all from me for now but I’ll see you guys again in my next post! I hope you all have a lovely day, week, or however long it is till my next post.
