ThisBelongsToMe..

Monday, June 3, 2019

Ramadhan
This year's Ramadhan is different as compared to the ones I had for the past 22 years of my life. It was actually quite an experience having to wake up for sahoor at 4:00 a.m. & breaking my fast at 9:00 p.m. here in the States. tbh before Ramadhan came I was so worried as to how I would hold up fasting for 16 hours a day when I was so used to only about 13 hours of fasting for the past years. But indeed Ramahan isn't like any usual months. It's miraculous.


Last month I had a few severe breakdowns, when it felt like I made the wrong decision to come here to pursue my study 9000 miles away from home. I kept blaming myself on; if only I did better with my study during my IB days, I wouldn't need to struggle with my classes to graduate on time. If only I planned on getting a job earlier, I wouldn't have to be so cheapskate at using my monthly allowance. If only I went to the university where my other close friends are at, I wouldn't feel like I'm losing my extraversion self. One by one, regrets kept surging in to me. I felt like I was losing myself. My parents with the same piece of advice, "Pray, when all hope is lost. Pray. He listens. He gave you the feeling of burden, He can take it away." and I cried. It's that feeling when you felt like you want to have faith but you just don't know anymore. For the first time in 10 years I felt so hopeless.

But I tried fighting against that feeling of hopelessness. So I prayed, and a few days after, Ramadhan came. That was when the miraculous moments happened. All the burdens that I felt piling up inside me subsided like it was nothing. Everything started to fall into place, one after another. I got a job at a place that I wanted, I got to enroll into classes that I couldn't before due to enrollment limit, I got to re-arrange my class schedule in such a way since a new class has been offered as an alternative to fulfill my degree requirement and I'll be able to graduate on time. I got way closer with my housemate that we've been putting up with each other's nonsense lately. So many other things happened in a month that put the burdens I felt for months to sleep.


He made a promise in that verse, the whole sentence was a promise to those who believe. But sometimes we tend to be so attached to the worldly problems that it felt like we had to go through it alone and we forgot that Allah could get rid of all of our burdens if He wills. This Ramadhan had been such miraculous journey for my soul just like how last year I had gone through one too, but last year's journey would need a different post or if best for me to keep as a reminder. Today marks the final day of Ramadhan for 2019. May Allah gives us the chance to meet again next year and may strengthen our faith towards him till the end. inshaAllah.

Monday, February 4, 2019

A Chance
Its been so long since I last wrote and today is just another day when I feel like so. I always have this fear of not fitting in with people whenever I go to a new place but at that same time having this thought of I'm gonna be so attached to them in the end. When I transitioned from high school to IB school I had that same two distinct thoughts "How am I gonna fit in?" and "Bet I'm gonna be attached to them in no time". In the end, the latter thought overshadowed my prior fear and I think it was possible by giving ourselves and other people a chance. The chance for us to get to know other people and for other people to get to know us.


Going to college far away from home (9000 miles to be exact) the same fear surged and my first few weeks were quite hard for me. The only new girl as a transfer in the Malaysian community. The only new person to move in into a house in which my other housemates were already friends even before they came here. I felt so out of place. I have a few friends that I knew since my IB school but it would feel like a burden to be asking them to hangout with me all the time as I understand that they already had their own circle of good friends here.


As usual, my own fear and insecurities killed me at first. I kept telling myself to pull through but it just seems that it's not the right piece of the puzzle to fit. Someone told me to "fake it till you make it!" and it made me realize that I just have to start giving myself a chance to go out of my comfort zone and just keep trying to reach out to people, and giving them a chance to get to know me. I'm aware that I'm more of an extrovert but it has always been hard for me to start off a conversation. Thus, whenever someone talked to me first I would try to engage in that conversation for as long as I can.

Also, it was a bit hard adjusting with my housemates at first since our personality style clashes but everything just fell into places as time goes by and everyone seems to be putting effort to get to know each other. A simple "How was your there?" and "Haven't seen you all day" when we passed each other in the kitchen or the living room. We were able to give ourselves a chance to be close to each other. Eventually, I have made some good friends and am looking forward to getting to know more about other people and am very grateful to be with my current housemates.


It may seem to be easier said than done since it's not easy for some people to just open up with the new people they just met. Giving ourselves a chance to know new people doesn't necessarily mean that we should share our deep darkest secret with them when we just barely knew each other but just a simple "Hi, nice to meet you". That simple greeting would've cut short some distance between that person and us. On the other hand, when other people reached out to us first, we should give them a chance to get to know us. Although living through college we would lose friends and the people that we befriended on day one may not be that same friend through the semester but finding that few true friends were only possible when we gave ourselves and them a chance in the first place.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

New Chapter


I MADE IT :")

I've been wanting to write & share this post on August 17 since that would be my monthsary here in the States, but being the procrastinator I am, I ended up posting this a week late. lol. when I was in middle school I spent most of my time in front of the TV & particularly watching disney: that's so raven, hannah montana, lizzie mcguire, even stevens, the suite life of zack & cody, wizards of waverly place and the list goes on. it got me curious on how it would be like for me to be experiencing life in there which started my dream to further my study in the States. fast-forward to all the joy, laughter, blood, sweat & tears. here I am in the States!


it took a total of 36 hours all the way from Malaysia to East Lansing, Michigan. The first thought I had the moment I've touched down at the Lansing Airport was "I'm definitely not going to go through that long journey ever again" it was so tiring to the extent that half-way through the journey I questioned myself "why do I get myself into this?" at first, we (I was with one of my friend) transited in Singapore for 10 hours when our flight from Malaysia there was only an hour. mhmm. then we boarded United Airlines for 16 hours to Los Angeles: only transited there for 2 hours so, no we didn't go anywhere in LA :") then took another 4 hours flight to Chicago (transit for an hour) & finally an hour flight to Lansing. it's a veryyyyyy long journey we lost track at how many times we sighed & complain. lmao.

I haven't even reached the States yet I'm already complaining that much. yeah, that is so me. I have endless rants. anyways, how did I end up going here? well, back in my ib days I've always wanted to go to Purdue University bcos it was the only university that I got exposed to. actually, both of my parents were Purdue graduates. they met each other there, fell in love, got married, awww i know it's sweet :") but I didn't go there tho haha I applied (twice) & got accepted (twice) but long story short my new chapter begins at Michigan State University. maybe I'm fated to be here for whatever reason :)


I was worried that I'm gonna have to overcome my jet-lag for a long time but it literally took me a day to recover so I'm all good with that. my first week here was great, made a few new international friends through the orientation program, walked around campus (the campus is huuuge tho), felt all welcomed & because it was a packed week with the orientation program I didn't get to miss home yet & especially when I get to eat for free for the whole week at the cafeteria on campus. life is all great when there's free food tho hahaha & I could say I'm adapting well. or so I thought. at times the loneliness hits me but I'm not gonna talk about it on this post. gonna make another post about it if I feel like it :)


moving on, then my first class starts & I got really nervous about it bcos I really don't know what to expect, it was an 8am class & since it'll take 20 mins by bus to get there I had to leave home by 7:30am. thus having me to wake up at 6:15am since I need to pray, shower & eat my breakfast! I've been changing my habit to not skip breakfast these days & so far I still haven't skip any before going to class :) good job gurl! (ahh prolly this is one of the reasons I'm able to shed off my weight) but overall classes are pretty the same as I was back in INTI Subang. my lecturers were all nice & very helpful but its just that the students here are way more proactive at asking questions & answering them in class, while I just sat there all quiet. lol. I would never have questions in class. the workload I would say bearable but not until you have 5 assignments, a quiz & a test all happening & due at the same week. lmao. I almost died but I survived as always! :") 


that's the mso family there in the picture or I could say my new family (mso: malaysian students organization) from what I know there's like more than 150 Malaysians here so it's a really huge community tho. a friend of mine had like only 8 Malaysians at the university he's attending. haha. anyways that picture was taken from our Merdeka Raya gathering. that was when I had my first exposure to the Malaysian community here, it was great to meet so many people from home but tbh it felt more intimidating for me meeting them as compared to meeting the locals or international students here. hahaha. prolly bcos I'm aware that most (or all) of them already knew each other & I'm like suddenly coming into the picture as the only transfer student (girl) that is. I felt wary of not being able to fit in since I'm the only new kid (well, there's actually another guy who came with me so it's like the two of us new kids, but you know he's a guy) I was concerned that people wouldn't want to befriend me since they've all got their own circle of friends here. lmao. insecurities are not good people! haha. but you know what they say, nice people still exist! eventually, I made a lot of new friends & they were nice to me & really made me feel belonged 💓

I'm looking forward as to what more new experience awaits.

p/s: sorry if the stories in this post seem rushed bcos there's so much going on when I've only been here for a month hahaha will make separate posts for more stories to share tho. stay tuned!

#Life

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