Leong Huini
Nationality: Malaysia
Education: 2018-2020 China-EU Institute of Clean and Renewable Energy, HUST, Msc
2014-2018 Chemical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, BEng
Leong Huiyi
Nationality: Malaysia
Education: 2018-2020 China-EU Institute of Clean and Renewable Energy, HUST, Msc
2014-2018 Chemical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, BEng
Deciding to embark on a master’s degree in foreign country is an excited yet difficult decision. Working towards a new chapter in life is never easy and to make a suitable choice on the location is the utmost challenge. Fortunately, ICARE conducted by Huazhong University of Science and Technology caught our eyes. This program was conducted in English with cooperation from different universities and is reckoned as a perfect fit for us which hopes to experience different culture. Additionally, Huazhong University of Science and Technology is a highly ranked university in China. Thanks to the extra hard work on preparation and application, both of us were awarded the Chinese Government Scholarship to pursue our master! We also hope to take this opportunity to express our gratitude towards China Scholarship Council (CSC) for the financial assistance.
Acclimatizing to a new environment is generally tough, however, this process was eased with the kindness and understanding from surrounding people especially our classmates and supervisors. We would like to convey huge thanks to our friends and classmate in ICARE for inviting us to all the activities organized which further helped us to blend into the big family. Besides, the timeline for registration of international student is also greatly planned as we have a week to settle down before we start our academic classes. This really does help as we wouldn’t see ourselves focusing if there wasn’t this week. Another nightmare about moving and settling down is accommodation, but fortunately this was well taken care of by the university and school staffs. Every step for registration is guided and it goes smoothly.
We could tell that life in ICARE is fast and hectic with respect to the lessons and exams. Hence, discipline and diligent are necessary qualities to keep in mind to keep up with the pace. Lecturers from different countries and educational backgrounds also added interesting experiences to our academic life which help to broaden and enrich our knowledge. We are also extremely happy that we could provide aid in return to the kindness offered by Chinese students when they faced doubts about knowledge taught in classes. We enjoy this kind of learning style where we could learn from each other through insights from different perspectives.
Course learning
Apart from that, we are excited and fortunate enough to join the ICCST research group which allow us to experience an enjoyable yet knowledgeable research journey. We are also glad to know that this research group is super friendly to international students as there are two international doctoral students who joined before us. With the fact that we speak Chinese actually facilitated the blending in China and cultural exchange. Our supervisors are kind and considerate to spend time talk to us over several sessions to ensure that the future research topic suits our interest. Generally, our research initiate in the second semester as the first semester are packed with classes which provides great help to frame our research work.
Perform an experiment
Perform an experiment
Setting aside the hectic academic and research, we actually had a great time in China especially Wuhan. Growing up in a tropical climate country (Malaysia), we had different imaginations about winter when it snows. Words couldn’t express the excitement that overwhelmed us when it snows heavily. We woke up in the middle of the night and enjoyed the snow with some of our international friends below our dorm. Besides, we also took the opportunity to visit a lot of cities in China during our winter and summer break. The beauty of nature is breathtaking in the northwestern part of China. We are also amazed by the lights that lit up the Hongya dong in Chongqing where it reminds us of the childhood anime “Spirited Away”. Reminiscing about the history of Emperor Qin in Xi’an also open our world to some cultures where we found familiar. Although there are also some hard times encountered while travelling, but these are solved with the kindness and help rendered by Chinese we met during the journey.
Northwest China & Chongqing
We decided to return home during the 2020 winter break for Spring festival celebration after 2 years. Apart from enjoying the reunion with family members after a long time, the news of Wuhan lockdown stroked us unexpectedly. Similarly, this world pandemic brought the world to a temporary halt. We missed our graduation, thesis defense in person, some photo sessions with our beloved friends and supervisors as well as greeting goodbyes to those we met during our beautiful adventure in China. However, with help from all, it was grateful that we could manage our degree during these difficult times. The memories we spent in China is short, but it will forever remain. Shoutout to all that we have met during this journey: Thank you so much for everything and we will definitely meet again!
