University of Strathclyde Students Had an Amazing Experience at IMU, Malaysia

Lydia Epemolu and five other students (Claire Blenkinsop; Stella Lee; Amir Khalil; Margaret Mary McGlone; Fareed Nadeem) from the University of Strathclyde, UK had the opportunity to spend seven weeks participating in a research project at the International Medical University, Malaysia under the PMI2 programme. Additionally, they experienced Malaysian culture, food and hospitality. Lydia recalls fondly her time in Malaysia. “My experience in IMU and Malaysia as a country was thoroughly enjoyable! It was great to meet so many lovely, friendly and hospitable students who befriended us from Chee Peng, Ewen and Michelle who met us when we landed in Kuala Lumpur to Weng Yong and Fu Yen and several others who took us out for food and/or showed us the city, you know who you all are and you all made me feel so welcome in a new country and so for me, it was just great to see how much you all went out of your way to be helpful. Although I do not personally see myself taking up research as part of my career, the lab project itself was interesting and our supervisor, Dr Lee Choy Sin was great and so helpful during our experimentation along with Bing Wei, Adeline, Wendy and the girls studying Bachelor of Pharmacy, so thank you all very much. The food! I personally enjoyed the food a lot and tried many new foods that I wouldn’t have dreamed of. I enjoyed eating on banana leaves and the fact that food was genuinely everywhere we went! Also, loved that food was so cheap! I was getting hysterical with how little I was paying compared to the UK! I feel sorry for you guys if you come here because you’ll be paying a bomb for basic fries! Although I enjoyed the Malay food, I must admit that I would be lying if I said that I didn’t eat much Western food…McDonalds delivered, enough said! I think Fareed and Amir loved that even more than I did! We travelled most weekends to Penang, Malacca, Langkawi, Singapore and then Thailand. I am honestly still shattered a month later from travelling so much but it was worth every second! I think my favourite Malaysian weekend away was to Langkawi. It was especially good because it was windy and not humid and so it was a rare time when I did not drip with sweat! I’m also still really thankful that the 272 steps up to the Batu Caves didn’t kill me! We did so much that I couldn’t possibly pick the best day of my 7 weeks but in general, I’ve had the trip of a lifetime and I’d definitely like to come back and visit Malaysia and other South East Asian countries at some point in the future. The PMI2 programme is great and I feel so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to go to Malaysia and experience a different culture. I really hope that the partnership between Strathclyde University and International Medical University continues long after I graduate next year.” The six students agreed that the PMI2 scheme has been an amazing opportunity and they thoroughly enjoyed their entire time being a part of it. They believe that this scheme is an amazing opportunity for any student, a fantastic chance to learn about different cultures, meet new people and make new friends from all over the world and to travel to various places close by! They had an amazing time on this placement at IMU and would definitely encourage students from other years to apply. Other comments on the visit include:

“I quite liked that the university is quite a modern campus with a well-run 24 hour research laboratory facility. All staff and students were very friendly and willing to help.” “I found that the project required a lot to be completed in the given time frame and that if our supervisor and Masters students did not help us as much as they did with pre-assembly of equipment and test running, we may have struggled slightly to complete the project, so either more allocated time or a slightly smaller workload may be beneficial.” “Overall, our visit to IMU was absolutely brilliant and I enjoyed learning more about what a research project consists of. One of the reason that made IMU very enjoyable is the friendliness of the students. The IMU ambassadors would organise nights out for us and we managed to make friends whilst in the university through hanging out in the student lounge.”