Comfort Zone

There are times when I wonder if I would have matured earlier or 'grown up' faster if I were to do my undergraduate degree in Malaysia.

The first thing which came to my mind was driving. I always thought that if I was studying back home, I would have become a steady driver by now. Over here, it's so expensive to get a British driving licence, what more buy a car when the car insurance can be more expensive than the car. If I were in Malaysia, I wouldn't have to worry about all these as I can borrow the family car at any time. It is so different from the situation here as we cannot just simply borrow a car. You have to specifically buy a car insurance to insure a specific driver for a specific car. Renting a car is something I dreamed of doing but dare not take the chance. Sometimes I do regret that I never master my driving skills properly. If I did, I might be more mobile. I am a timid person, which I hate sometimes.

I think I'm only qualified to drive this car

Thinking about financial wise. I have this concept all the while in my head that only working adults dealt with the bank. I used to follow my parents to the bank when they needed to deal with finance. It was only when I came to the UK that I had to open my own bank account, deal with the bank and manage my own finance. What I can say is, money is everything in every part of the globe. Sadly, nobody can live without money. Even if you had tremendous talent or passion for a subject, no university will accept you if you cannot afford it. Some might argue that you can apply for a scholarship. But think about it, a scholarship is also made up of a sum of money and not everyone is lucky enough to obtain one.

Feeling happy and secured in my comfort zone

I guess living away from home, I've taken a really big step to move out of the comfort zone. It was really difficult for me at first, as I wasn't used to worry about the grocery, accommodation, transportation, etc when I was staying at home. It was a luxury having parents to worry about you, take care of you, becoming your chauffeur (or human GPS plus driving instructor), opening a fully stocked fridge at all times, sitting in an air-conditioned car to be chauffeured everywhere, and mostly being pampered at home. Those were the good old days. I guess I might grow up faster in some areas with parental support but I did mature more when I was on my own over here.

I realised that I had to be responsible for every decision I make. Unlike in the past, I could just run back to my parents if anything went wrong. Home is like halfway around the globe now and it will be impossible to 'run back' even if I wanted to. Even if I encountered a financial crisis, I'll have to wait at least 5 working days for my parents to transfer money to me. It's not as easy in the past when I just had to open my mouth to ask and my parents will just give me what I needed right away. Another thing is looking after my own safety. I do sometimes forget that this world is not as safe as it looks on the surface until I encounter some episode which just throws me back into reality along with a harsh reminder. I do miss that comfort zone sometimes but I am glad that breaking out of it has made me a stronger person.
As the saying goes, we depend on family when we're at home but on friends when we're away. I am proud to say that I am lucky to have so many good friends to depend on.