'Fatima, Fatima, Fatimaaaaaa!!!!'
I heard the door slam, and there was a minute's delay as my brother frantically took off his shoes and came barging into my room.
'Can you please, at least once in your life, knock like a civilized human being before you come in?' I remarked.
'No. Stop talking and listen. My friend is applying to Charles University for General Medicine. It is in Czechia and is well-ranked. I think you should check it out. You actually might have the chance to go abroad to study.'
'Seriously?' I said, whipping out my laptop and typing as quickly as my fingers would allow. 'Oh wow, you're... right. But wait, there has got to be a catch. I bet the tuition fee is super high. Lemme check.'
Surprisingly, it wasn't. Well, at least not as high as the universities I had been looking at. Universities that had started making my hopes of becoming an international student dwindle. That is, until my brother, who had patiently listened to me whine and complain about it for the past month, let in a ray of hope.
I probably spent the rest of the day trying to find some fatal flaw that could validate my hunch that it was all too good to be true. Long story short, my efforts were futile, and so began a long process of obtaining more information, giving entrance exams, applying for visas and showing up for appointment after appointment. It was a lengthy process, but after a few months, all of the tasks had been checked off, and before I knew it, my flight to Prague was only a week away.
Anxieties soared high during this time, and all my overthinking wasn't helping. Would I be able to do it? Did I genuinely harbour the strength to face all the challenges bound to appear? These questions kept racing through my head, but after some introspection, I realized that nothing in life ever goes according to our plans.
We often get so caught up trying to control every little detail that we forget many things are not in our control. And
more often than not, we end up being the only thing standing in our way. So, I braced myself for any possible outcomes of this decision. Looking back three years later, I can confidently say that it has to be the best investment I have made, not just for my professional career but also for myself.