Journey of a Muslim

Thinking of doing any course up north UK??? Welcome to Aberdeen! Basically, this university is located in Scotland, about 3 hours journey from Glasgow and 2 hours and half from the capital city of Scotland which is Edinburgh by train. To imagine how far it is from London; it is about 12 hours by bus, 7 hours by train,1 hours and half by airplane...heehee...and one more!It is more or less like Terengganu in Malaysia; located north east of UK, oil and gas city, and has beautiful beaches ^_^


Facilities

A few facilities here are A Million-Volume Library, New Library Project, Computing & Service Desk, Museums & Special Collections, High-Tech Language Learning, Student Learning Service and Aberdeen Sports Village.

Besides, you can join any activities such as cooking class, art class, or anything organised by the community centre in you neighbourhood ;)


Course



There are not so many Malaysian students here and the majority of them are postgraduates with their family. For undergraduates, not so many students come each year. In 2010, there are only 5 Malaysian students who came to do Medicine; 2 Malay guys, 2 Chinese girls and 1 Malay girl whom are all first year Medical Students. Four of them are self sponsored while only one is sponsored by Government of Malaysia. However, there are also a few students who come from International Medical University(IMU) to do clinical section in February which means they would come here as fourth year medical students (twinning program).

University of Aberdeen is divided into two; Medical School and also Old Aberdeen(main campus). In medical school (which is 30 minutes walk from the main campus) is where the students who take science subject would study or do research. In Old Aberdeen, there are a few Malaysian students who take Mathematics, English, Islamic studies and etc. In such course here, it is not weird if you are the only Malaysian in your batch;D

There is also another university in Aberdeen which is called Robert Gordon University but as far as I know, Malaysian students there are all self-sponsored and their courses are architecture, quantity surveyor and others. Sometimes, Aberdeen University medical students might go to RGU, having courses like Interpersonal Education (IPE) which gathers all medical profession.



Accommodation

For first years, there are Halls of Residence which are a mixture of individual rooms within houses or flats, available on a catered and self catered basis. However, Malaysian students are more likely to rent a house near the university.


Life as a Muslim



Being a Muslim, now and then, here and there^^...it is practical anywhere, anytime...You don't have to worry about people acceptance or whatever. In fact, people here are very open minded to different culture or religion. The key thing is, ""If you are open minded to them, they would be open minded to you as well""...

It would be more interesting because I think here you would be more practical! You wouldn't really want to find a prayer room if you are rushing to next class or lecture so you just pray at any place which is clean and doesn't disrupt people. However, if want a more proper and nice place, you can go to the prayer room. On Friday, girls usually go to ""quiet room"" (in the chapel) because boys would use the prayer room for Jumaat prayer.

Even though Aberdeen is quite far up north, it wouldn't be a problem for you to join many Islamic courses or programs across UK and Ireland. You can join programs such as Winter Gathering, Spring Camp and many other conferences or anything similar to that.
Get buses, trains or flights...they are all accessible from here!



Halal Food

Are you a big-eater? Or are you the one who have ""perut Malaysia"" that you couldn't help but to eat rice everyday???Ha-ha, not to worry because you can get rice easily at the mini-market, supermarket or any Halal shops here.

Basically, you can get everything at Halal shop...Everything?hurm...not really everything but I think you know what I mean..huhu...Anyway, you can get almost all stuff that you need to cook Asian food...Just say it!""Tom Yum""? ""Nasi lemak""?""Beriyani?""..you can make it...even if you are not a very good cook, you can get ready-made paste. Just add water, vegetables, stir, cook a bit and then done!=))

If it is not halal shop, you can just see the label if the food is suitable for ""vegetarian"" and contain no alcohol...but here, you might find it funny especially to say that you are ""vegetarian"" who eat halal meat ;p




Malaysian Community



As I said before, there are not so many Malaysians here but that makes us very close to each other. We would gather in events like Eid, Maulidur Rasul, or anything organised by Persatuan Melayu Aberdeen (PMA). Sometimes, we would have activity like picnic or gathering at different houses. Even though it is basically Malay Association, we do have even non-Malaysian who come and join us in the event. So, don't think that we are anti-social ;) he-he..



What to Prepare

I don't think I've to ask you to bring shirts or something like that. But just an advice maybe for medical students-to-be, I suggest that you guys bring your stethoscope from Malaysia because it would be more expensive here T_T...

And maybe you wanna buy a few reference books in Malaysia?But pleasex3 don't worry to much about that. I can say it would be quite advantage that not so many students coming to Aberdeen that the seniors will just pass their reference books, or any notes which are useful to the juniors(>_^)...But if you wanna buy yours, you can contact any senior to ask for the list..heehee...We are more than happy to help!




Being here, of course we need to be independent especially if we are the only Malaysian, the only Muslim or other 'the only'...but the best thing is that you would learn a lot throughout your study. You won't just get a scroll for your academia but at the same time you can get more life experience that of course you have never got before! Come and experience it!

Have you ever heard about ""Scottish accent""???...That might be a slightly tricky bit once you are here but it would be fine. You just have to sit with them, nodding or anything for the very first time and after that, without you realise you might have that Scottish accent! Isn't that cool? ha-ha


Contact Person

Name:Rabiatul Adawiah binti A Basir
Email/skype:rabiatuladawiah5056@ymail.com
Phone number:+447512428683

For more information, visit the University Website