Leaving On a Jet Plane

At last, my long awaited trip to Korea is finally here. I shall board my plane in exactly 7 hours. I am both nervous and excited.

Back in July (i think) when we had our OMHS program, my group had to do some research on the Role of Health Officers in the Import and Export of Food Products. That was out main topic. From there we branched out; we drafted a separate research paper on palm oil, Malaysia's biggest export. Our supervisor disagreed, saying it is not enough for our main report. So instead of scraping the idea, we wrote a separate abstract(summary) and submitted it to the APACPH Committee. We settled our main report, presented it, and left it there. Fast forward a dew weeks and behold: your abstract has been accepted for the 43rd APACPH Conference in Seoul, South Korea.

Ooh, the excitement that came over our group was feverish. Over the next few days, word got out and it was all any of us could talk about. Our mismatched group of 4 : myself, Loo Kar Yee, Nur 'Afeena Al-Fahmi and Mukhlis Ahmad Azam became the envy of other group members. Hahaha....I was almost immediately worried : crap, we only have an abstract, what on earth are we going to present????

Well, we got to work on sponsorship. First, from the university : UM agreed to sponsor our conference fees, USD250 per person. So we bought our flight tickets by individual means, registered and RSVP-d our attendance for the conference. Next we tried the Clinical Research Committee for sponsorship....no avail. Then I emailed the Korean Embassy and received no reply. Afeena contacted the Malaysian Palm Oil Board who declined to provide sponsorship. As much as our Korea trip was starting to become a reality, the picture seemed rather bleak.

Until, Hari Raya came along...I was telling my mother our progress and our sponsorship predicament when she uttered the magic words : I'd rather pay for your trip and let you all focus on your studies and presentation rather than let you waste time focusing on the nitty-gritty stuff. And with that, we had RM 5000 in bank! I could almost feel the energy revive within my group.

Kar yee : this is not a dream is it?

Afeena : you mom is so generous!! how are we gonna thank her?

Mukhlis : Dima i love your mom...muahks aunty, muahks!

And with that, i immediately started researching and planning out 10-day trip. Drafted out the itinerary, discussed with my groupmates and estimated the costs. Then came the icing on the cake : my grandmother was willing to give us RM2000. And with that, ALL our expenses are taken care of : flight tickets to Jeju island, accommodations for Jeju and the conference, subway passes, as well as all the entry fees for our sightseeing.

Once all of that was settled came the work : our poster. We sat and discussed, but not much research was available online. Time was of the essence : we were in different postings and it was difficult to find time to visit and meet people. The 3 of them went to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board library and did the research; then Karyee and I read through the papers, I drafted the bulk of the report while Afeena and Kar Yee filled the gaps and did the nitty-gritty. When I was done, Kar Yee and Mukhlis summarised it and designed the poster, Afeena checked with our supervisor and settled the printing. Whew! All in the span of 4 weeks. Yet we still found time to go shopping for shoes & gloves.

Korea is finally a reality. And in just a few hours, we will regroup at the LCCT. My neurotic side is already kicking in : did i pack enough stuff? Is it the correct clothes? Will we be able to stick t our plan? Do i have enough stamina for all this? Is my cash & passport safe? What else do i need?

so that's the story of how this trip came to be. Leaving On a Jet Plane...the song has been stuck in my head since last night. Oh well, i better go check my packing one last time. Goodbye, Malaysia! I'll see you in 10 days.