"Angpa tak belajar ka kat oversea tu?"

There's been a lot of flack going around about how students overseas seem to be having a jolly good time gallivanting on government funding while students back home continue to be burdened with student loans, etc. This has been all over my Facebook News Feed and it is bugging the hell out of me.

I actually have a pretty important report to write, but I'm doing this instead because word vomit is necessary for me to feel a little better. Oh, ada report rupanya. Bukan kerja pergi jalan je ke?

Before I continue with what could possibly be a rant (who are we kidding? this is definitely a rant.) I'd like to clarify that yes, I am a government scholar and points expressed here are my own, not government-endorsed in any way and serves as a bit of insight into the life of a student abroad. Every student has a different story, and this is mine. I do not represent the Malaysian student community abroad in any way. Also, probably will be more UK-based. Also, this post will be in rojak.

Disclaimers aside, let the ranting begin.

Apparently this whole thing exploded from this tweet:



Not the first time that 140 characters with multiple emojis have managed to wind up the masses.

What I can infer from this tweet is that:

A) Students studying abroad are happily travelling
B) Students in Malaysia are studying hard to the point of dying
C) Students abroad are not dying, they're just really happy
D) Probably because they're not studying, they're always travelling
E) Students abroad can travel, students back home are stuck studying
F) Sebab aku pakai student loan, kau ada scholarship katanya
G) This situation is an absolute travesty, judging by the crying emojis
H) A small crowd of angry students agreed with the tweet above

I admit that when I was studying in Malaysia, I too envied the seemingly carefree life of those studying abroad. Pergh. Mana tak rasa carefree? Just open up the social media account of any of your friends studying overseas and you'll probably see these things:

A) Gambar main snow muka bahagia gila
B) Gambar baca buku/ picnic/ baring tengah padang masa spring
C) Gambar bawah pokok daun luruh beserta quote yang #Deep
D) Gambar beg siap pack beserta passport dan boarding pass
E) Gambar cawan kopi di cafe
F) Gambar masak-masak makanan Malaysia padahal tak pernah masak kat Malaysia

Gambar-gambar wajib! Mana ada gambar longgokan assignment yang belum siap. Gambar bank statement time kopak ke, gambar kasut dah koyak rabak sebab jalan pi sekolah ke, mana ada. Status semua nak bahagia. They seem to have the perfectly ideal student life. So, so happy.

Now that I am here in the UK, I can tell you that life here is not always the pretty picture we paint it to be on our social media accounts. But at the same time, I'm not saying it's all gloom and doom either. It is a pretty good life, even with the bumps and knocks on the way, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunities that I've been given.

Tak lama duduk luar negara ni. This is a fact. For us who are government funded, they will probably give you three years top to graduate with a PhD. Four years, if they're feeling really, really, really generous. Tu pun final 6 months terus takde scholarship. Masters students get a year plus, Bachelors... three or four years, give or take. Bunyi macam lama, tapi hakikatnya pendek.

I think having limited time and somewhat limited resources forces a lot of us studying abroad to grow up and mature quickly. Even the most childish of us have to toughen up and realize that the steering wheel is now firmly in our own hands. Nobody will be there with you to tell you what to do anymore and this sudden sense of autonomy can scare even the most independent of us.

It is in these constraints that we suddenly turn into excellent planners. We learn to prioritize. We learn to count our resources carefully. For most of us, our priority whilst studying abroad would be to grasp every single chance available to explore the world while we can. Masa ni la semua jadi pro travel agent. Calendar semua dah tanda - bila plan nak terbang, bila nak beli tiket so that it's cheap, bila assignments due, etc. Everything is there in black and white.

It is also in these constraints that we learn to handle our money better. Monthly allowance dah bahagi siap-siap. Everything has been calculated thoroughly: duit sewa, duit transport, duit barang dapur, duit top-up, duit simpan travel, and even duit untuk savings just in case esok lusa elaun tak masuk on time. Elaun pun masuk time lain-lain, ada lamsam, ada sebulan sekali. So when we're not spending on ourselves we also sometimes cover each others expenses. Takde orang lain dah nak tolong sini, we only have each other.

Regarding our self-portrayal in social media, I agree with the last paragraph of this post that we do try to inspire others with our posts. We try to show what we could do, what we could become, if we put enough time and passion into it.

As a child, my mom used to tell me that if I studied really well and that if I was good at what I did, people would pay me to study. I thought it was an odd thing, to pay people to study, and that my mom just said that to encourage me to finish my homework. As I grew older, I learned that there was such thing as being paid to study. It's what we call scholarships.

Speaking of family, this is another reason why everything looks so happy on social media. We are thousands of miles away from home. The last thing we would want is for our families back home to feel worried about us.

Student life is student life regardless of where you're studying. Ada hari senang, ada hari susah. Ada hari boleh jalan-jalan, ada hari tak cukup duit nak makan. Ada hari belajar okay, ada hari nak menangis bawah shower dengan lagu sedih in the background. Semua tu perkara biasa. Norma kehidupan seorang bergelar pelajar.

Tapi kalau boleh, dekat ke jauh ke, memang tak nak susahkan hati family. Kalau demam tak bangun tiga hari pun, usaha sungguh-sungguh nak bunyi sihat on the phone. Semua sebab nak bagi family rasa senang. Sebab susah tau sebenarnya nak lepas anak pi belajar tinggi-tinggi. Our families worry endlessly, even if they don't show it.

Allrighty then. Penat jugak ranting ni. Sudah-sudah la dengki-mendengki ni. Sendiri punya life, sendiri mau urus la. I now have to sort my laundry, fill some forms, edit some stuff and prepare to meet my supervisor.

Auf wiedersehen.