Written by Hairong
It’s been March since I received my Pre-Mdm offer, and the short six months I’ve spent here have been very beneficial. Every step is a vast improvement from the initial fear of unfamiliar foreigners to earning the courage to make phone calls in English. One of the things that benefited me most was the inclusive perspective, a mirror through which I saw myself and many others.
I remembered many things, including the discrimination I suffered during the pandemic. Still, my lack of confidence and English skills in the face of a native speaker made it difficult for me to fight back. It might be different now; I’ve learned debating skills; I’ve learned courage; I’ve learned to pitch; even though I’m still a timid person, today, I have more ways to show up for myself. The other things were related to friendship, and prior to this, the three years of the pandemic had gradually caused me to lose touch with my previous friends. Finding opportunities to meet new people was challenging, and playing video games with my boyfriend’s male friends made me feel awkward. Right now, I’ve met female friends to play with, and I’ve had much fun playing Stardew Valley, Don’t starve, and Ultimate chicken house together, and I’ve also found reasons why I thought it was weird before.
What also has to be mentioned is how I handle conflict because, in pre-MDM, we talked about conflict management. I rarely argued with people in the past, and when I experienced anger, I would turn it off. I then tried to make some changes; I asked everyone around me how they would handle it, got some encouragement, and learned to communicate normally when faced with disagreement or conflict. Although communication is complex, finding a way to do it is part of the process.
One of my favourite parts of the course is writing journal entries for the pre-MDM blog. I was given many opportunities during the program to express my emotions/feelings. While writing my over 20 entries, I had the chance to learn about and observe phenomena that interested me and to record them. One of my favourite things to write about was a review of comics. I had the opportunity to revisit my preferences and the story’s impact.
As I wrote this last piece, I remember the first day I received my Pre-Mdm acceptance letter; I hugged my boyfriend and cried all day. I was scared that my mother couldn’t afford the tuition fees to cover a technical language course. But looking back on it today, I was overly worried about the tuition fees; my mother even covered it all, and I recognized I needed a chance to learn the skills to get along with people, an opportunity to improve my technical communication skills, learn to be confident; a chance to make small changes.