Friday, 16 July 1999

I stayed back for some research in the library yesterday and met another mature student. Her hospital is sponsoring her for an advanced diploma course. She has pretty extensive nursing experience already and is now pursuing specialised studies in Geriartrics (study of medical conditions pertaining to the elderly). I asked her about her nursing experience and gained quite a bit of insight from her. I hope to meet her again someday.

Thus far, there are already some tutors and lecturers whom I have decided, will be my role models. Prior to becoming a staff of the School of Health Sciences, they were nurses with extensive experience and had travelled overseas to work and to pursue higher nursing qualifications. Before starting school, I had a vision of doing the same thing too and so, it's nice to know of lecturers and tutors so close to home who have already travelled the same path. :) There is much that I can learn from them!

With all due respects to my culture and heritage, I feel we have a lot to learn from the West, especially with regards to self-improvement and our attitudes towards learning. Here, we tend to restrict our education opportunities due to age. I admire the western 'phenomenon' where people in their 50's may enroll in college for further studies or to pursue a field they had been interested in exploring but in their youth, had never had the opportunity to. Here, the senior citizens restrict themselves, plus, society here has not seen such a precedence being set and plus, education is pretty highly subsidised by the government and unless the elderly here enroll in private schools, I'm not so sure that the government would entertain their applications.

Working in the regional headquarters of American MNC's (multi-national corporations) where I was exposed to colleagues of all races and nationalities had broadened my horizon a lot and given me valuable insights and perceptions. It had also challenged me to change my mindset, to experience paradigm shifts and to embrace a more global view. Now, I see the potential that these have in my course. They can, and will be, an added advantage to me, if you will.

Conversely, if I had enrolled in Nursing School when I was a teen, I doubt if I would appreciate the dynamics. I remember my teen years as a time of confusion, a time when I was still busy trying to 'find myself', to establish a strong self-identity. It was an introspective period for me and I hadn't yet known what to make of the world around me. Well, I thought I made sense of it then but really, maturity is a great eye-opener.

God is fair. I have some things to my advantage, and others not to my advantage. Whatever it is, I'll make full use of what I've been blessed with. I will make the most of whatever resources I have too. I must keep my ultimate goal for nursing school in mind - to graduate with the best grades I can obtain! :)

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