This interview series seeks to introduce fellows and students of Tembusu College to the wider community on a more personal level, and to create dialogue between these groups of people. This week, Hamza shares his personal anecdotes on how he balances the time in his days, his recent travels in Europe, and the poignant takeaways from his journeys there.
Hamza is a Biomedical Engineering major who entered Tembusu College in 2014 and is now in his second year here. He has served as the 37th Sports Director and is currently the 38th President for NUS Students’ Engineering Club. He also sits in the NUSSU Council and is a member of the Finance Standing Committee. Hamza would like to hone his DJ skills, learn Spanish and spend a lot more time travelling.
In your words, what is your day in a life? How do you go about your normal day?
It’s very different every day, but the most constant thing for me is that I try to go for a 5km run every morning. Once I’m back – I’m into debate – so I spend a lot of time watching some of the top journalists and top debaters debate on different topics. Then, it’s down to studying. I spend a lot of time replying to emails because of the different positions that I hold in NUS. Other than that, I spend a lot of time in the NUS Students’ Engineering clubroom both studying and looking after the club.
With the rest of the Engineering Club.
So apart from waking early, every semester seems different for you because of your commitments, is that right?
Yeah, it’s different every semester. This semester I’m trying to be more consistent with what I do – my freshman year was a little all over the place; I wanted to try too many things, wanted to experience university life at its very best but I realised it was not possible – there’s only 24 hours in a day, there’s only so much you can do.
Right now, within NUS, I’m a full-time student; I’m a year 2 biomedical engineering student. I’m also the president for the faculty of engineering’s club and a member of the NUSSU council, which is made up of pretty much all executive committee (EXCO) members of all faculty clubs. I’m also a member of the finance standing committee – we look at every proposal that comes to us for funding whether fund from NUSSU or the National Youth Council. It comes down to our decision, whether the events are appropriate for funding. Apart from that, I work outside as a frontline ambulance medic, and I’m clocking close to 52 hours a week, which is more than what a normal person would do while working full time. Other than that, I’m very close to my family, and I have very young brothers, so that’s a very big part of my life.
How do you balance all these commitments, since there’re only 162 hours in a week?
I’ve always felt that human beings – I mean, all of us, have never worked at our maximum efficiency. I’ve always thought that we are close to about 20-30% of what we are able to achieve. What I try to do is find a good balance, looking at what people do to relax like watching movies – I haven’t watched a movie in over a year now, I don’t spend a lot of time sleeping, so I condition myself to sleep 5 hours a day and feel very fresh. I think that’s something people take for granted every day – people assume you need 8-10 hours, and I could be wrong, but I think it’s just how you condition yourself. If you’re used to sleeping 8 hours a day, the moment you sleep 7, you are still tired. So that’s one thing, conditioning yourself to be able to sleep less but yet be able to allow your body to fully recover, cutting aside a lot of distractions like movies, just sitting down and not doing anything – I’m far from perfect, but these are the two things I try not to do.
So would you consider yourself a workaholic?
Yes, definitely a workaholic, very much so. I wasn’t like this 2-3 years ago – I used to chase grades like any other student and I used to play cricket, I played for Singapore for quite a while. My life was pretty much just cricket and studying – that was all. I was too occupied just doing these two things. Now, I’ve taken a step back from chasing grades and I haven’t played cricket as much as I used to, so it gives me more time to pursue different things.
This is great to bring up one of the questions that Dr Margaret asked: what made you the person you are now? You already talked about the difference in yourself from three years ago and now, so I’ll rephrase the question as whether there was a defining moment that pushed you to be the person you are today?
I would say from a very young age, like all of us, I was a person with huge dreams. So talking about experiences, I think it’s not just what happened three years ago, it all started from a very young age, when I lost my mom. It’s something personal, but I don’t mind discussing it because I’m open about it. To me, losing my mom at a young age to cancer was probably the big change in my life and I had always remembered that she wanted me to be a successful person, a good human being, and I realised 3 years ago that I wasn’t going the direction that my mom wanted to see me in. I was too obsessed with grades on a piece of paper, too obsessed with my passion for cricket, and those two things were not directly making any contribution to anyone apart from myself. So the realisation happened 3 years ago, but this change has always been there since many years ago, building up inside me.
So 3 years ago, I decided to be more social, more open, more willing to try new things and that’s how I got into working as an ambulance medic and I’ve been doing that for almost 4 years now.
It seems to me now that you’re currently trying out a lot of new things – have you decided what you’re going to do in the future, or are you still in the moment of discovery?
No, I’m pretty sure what I want to do – I want to be in the healthcare industry. It’s very clear to me that that’s where I belong.
I served National Service as a frontline emergency ambulance medic at the Central Fire Station. It was the busiest fire station, and I attended nearly 1,300 calls in 1 year and 10 months. I saw a lot of different cases ranging from road traffic accidents to people committing suicide, cases of depression, drowning, and it was really… During my time with the civil defence force, I was exposed to a side of life that I wasn’t exposed to in the past.
An example of an accident scene that has become very much part and parcel of life while working as a frontline paramedic.
But what became that one trigger that really pretty much confirmed that I wanted to be in this line was that 2 years ago, I went for a case – this young Japanese guy working at Great Eastern, and he had cardiac arrest, which in layman’s term would mean that his heart stopped beating but he is considered clinically dead. My team and I arrived within 7 minutes and we were very quick in our operations. In the next 10 minutes, we managed to revive him and several months from then, we got a call from the Ministry of Health saying that I was awarded the Life Saver’s award and was invited for this huge ceremony. Even then, I didn’t understand the significance of it until I went up onto the stage and the person who passed me that award was the same person that, 7 months ago, was dead in front of me. That was when I realised just how much we can contribute. To us, it was just another day at work, but to him, his wife and young child, it meant everything.
It’s not an easy experience – post-traumatic stress disorder is a very real condition that many of us had experienced at some point in our career, but along the way, you become more desensitised. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing because to be able to come back and have a meal right after you’ve seen someone pass away, I’m not sure it’s a normal thing, but you do have to find a way to desensitise yourself. What we do as trained medics is try not to look at the person’s face and eye contact – this is not to sound heartless, but it is to give ourselves a chance to overcome the post-traumatic stress that we always experience. But of course, at the start, I would come back crying like anybody else, I would not be able to sleep, get nightmares… You can still get used to seeing people who are much older pass away, but you can never desensitise yourself from seeing a young baby pass away in front of your eyes or even in your arms, which has happened to me. To all the readers, it’s not easy – I have a lot of respect for the healthcare professionals working in this line for years and decades. It’s very hard, but at some point you realise that you have to overcome what you feel simply because you have to give your patient the best possible chance of survival and you can only do that when you yourself are mentally strong enough to stay strong and composed given that situation.
Do you have anything that you have yet decided to pursue?
Yeah I haven’t been able to give a lot of time to working on my recreational career as a DJ – I’m a huge fan of music, I’m somebody who is able to appreciate good music and it’s something that I would love to have some time to practice more, to take classes from renowned DJs, to work on my skills.
Other than that, I would love to do some extreme sports. I would like to get my professional skydiving license – that’s something I’ve done but I do not have my license yet so that’s something I hope to be able to do one day so that I can bring my family to do their first skydive with me.
I’m a huge fan of cars; I would love to take part in some races, go to some tracks in Malaysia and really hone my skills as a driver, as a racer.
From these three things, it seems that something they all have in common is showing how you want to live life to the fullest – would that be correct or is there a deeper meaning to why you want to pursue these interests? Why take part in all these other activities when it seems that you already have a path set down the road?
I think that everyone is different. Like everyone else, I have my own unique personality, I am a risk-taker – I love to do things that involve a lot of adrenaline rush. Skydiving, racing, and to some extent DJ-ing as well, they all involve some level of adrenaline. It just allows me to express my inner self, which is more chaotic, hyperactive, very enthusiastic, very daring and sometimes I lack fear – which is not always a good thing – but this willingness to try things, the thrill that I get out of the experience sort of allows me to fulfill my definition of living life to the fullest. It is not the only definition, but it is my definition of living life to the fullest.
It’s just my personality – I’m a flashy person, I’m a very daring person, I’ve done all sorts of haircuts and all sorts of chains and bracelets and everything that people would describe as crazy, as too flashy, too show-off, but it’s just my inner self that I need to express and there is no better place than being able to do a skydive, you realise how insignificant you are in this world. We get too obsessed with very small things in life but when you’re up there, 12,000 feet, 15,000 feet and you’re jumping down, free-falling and you realise that you’re completely insignificant. This is not to put yourself down as a person, but you realise that this world is huge and there’s a lot more than what you and I would see in this university or in this country, and these extreme sports allow me to see some of it.
I’ve done bungee jumping, I’ve done scuba diving, I’ve gotten hit by a car, broken several bones, don’t really regret it. Trying these all once, I don’t know if it really counts as having done it completely, but things I’ve not done… I haven’t seen the whole world – that’s a huge thing that I would like to be able to take in at some point in my life.
Speaking of travelling the world, you just came back from a huge trip around Europe, can you tell us more about that?
It was a very good trip – now that we’re talking about it, I just got my telephone bill. Left my international roaming on, so my bill is $1,200, which is almost 40% of what I spent over the whole trip. I went there on a budget trip and thought I was successful in achieving that goal until I came back and saw the telephone bill and realised I have to pay that $1,200 more.
But, the trip was an eye-opener, to say the least. Beautiful trip, met beautiful people, made new friends, met old friends, but mostly discovered a lot about myself and about this huge world.
So much to say… I was arrested in Slovakia for being a refugee – I was allegedly a refugee in Slovakia. I had taken the wrong train from Vienna; supposed to go to Prague, in the Czech Republic, ended up in Slovakia, slept in the train, woke up, nobody was inside the train, had to struggle my way out. I was very confused at the time, had to approach some police officers in that very confused state, and they were surprised I didn’t know where I was – that obviously rang some bells in them. They asked me to follow them and then I was in a car, and then I was in a police station. They held me up for a few hours – they were not oppressive, they did not do anything bad to me, but it was just a bit of a traumatising experience because I had no place in Slovakia. I had someone waiting in Prague for me, so it was a bit of a scary experience.
As I was on a budget trip, I took Air China from Singapore to Beijing, from Beijing I flew to Minsk, which is a city in Belarus, very close to Russia. From there, I went to Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. From there, by chance, I ended up in Slovakia and then I made my way to Prague, the Czech Republic, and then I flew to Paris where I joined my girlfriend who was waiting for me there. After Paris, both of us went to Norway; we first went to Oslo, and then took a flight to a very small city of 70,000 people called Tromso, stayed there for 3 days.
We did some of the most amazing things: whale-watching – it was incredible to be close to huge whales barely meters away from us. The purpose of going to Tromso was to watch the Northern Lights – I managed to watch that probably for the first and last time in my life. I also did dog-sledding there, had a very good time. From Tromso, we came back to Oslo and spent another two days in Oslo, and then we flew back to Paris.
Whale-watching in Norway, meters away from the whales themselves.
Dog-sledding in Tromso.
My girlfriend went back to work, and from Paris I took a car to London. I stayed 3 days in London, and then I went to Birmingham. From Birmingham I went to Sheffield, from Sheffield I went to Manchester, from Manchester I went to Edinburgh in Scotland and I came back to Manchester, back to Sheffield, back to London. In London, on Christmas Day, I spent 13 hours in the bus travelling to Amsterdam, which is my favourite city in Europe, went to Amsterdam, and met really good friends there. After Amsterdam I went to Brussels in Belgium, then I went to Berlin. After Berlin I came back to Amsterdam, and then I went to a city called Utrecht, which is an hour away from Amsterdam to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The next morning, I went back to Amsterdam, and took a flight to Barcelona. I spent 3 days in Barcelona, and the purpose of going there was to do skydiving in a place called Empuriabrava, which is known to be the best skydiving spot, so I was very excited. We went up, 12,000 feet, but the dive had to be cancelled because of bad weather, came down again, came back to Barcelona and then went to Rome in Italy. I stayed there and from there I went back to Beijing and from Beijing back to Singapore.
So I was in close to 15-16 countries in 44 days and with a budget of $3.6k.
You’ve mentioned on some of your Facebook posts when you went to a new city, did not make any preparations for accommodations – are there any stories behind that? You were quite fortunate to have something almost like a global network of friends, some of them who were willing to share their space with you.
When I left for Europe, all I had with me was a ticket and a return ticket from Europe back to Singapore. Nothing was booked, I decided – on purpose – to not do any research. I had no roaming; this was my first time in Europe. But going alone was something I had looked forward to for a long time. I would recommend people to go alone – it would be challenging, there would be lonely nights, there would be frustrating days, but at the end of the day, you would realise that you are a much better person than you were at the start.
Yes, I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of friends in a lot of countries, and that also explains why I did not spend a lot. But, though I did have friends in pretty much every country I went to, I did not made plans to meet. I just didn’t want a planned trip. So, for instance, when I arrived at Barcelona, I was just sitting at the airport, all by myself, with no internet, and I just didn’t know where to go. It was scary, my phone was running out of battery, it was 9pm. But I just kept walking, with a huge backpack on my shoulders. I tried to find a hostel, couldn’t find one, but I saw a fellow backpacker, approached her, asked her if she knew where to go. She said she was going to a hostel, so I followed her, got a room there for 9 euros and met amazing people there. I made friends from 15 different countries, from pretty much every continent.
Just one tip that I can give to people is – do not be afraid of putting yourself in completely unknown territories, believe in humanity, there are many very good people around who will help you. I’ve had some of the best experiences – I often met people who would give me free rides; I was in Barcelona, hadn’t eaten the whole day, was low on cash, went to a shop to get some food, and though they were already closed, they agreed to prepare something for me and refused to take money from me; I was in London and had to top up my card, the Oyster card, and the station manager topped up 20 pounds for me without taking money from me. There are good people everywhere; of course it’s not always going to be perfect, but try, explore. Some moments will be tough, halfway through the trip I fractured my ankle, but it was all worth it. People think that travelling is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be expensive. Stay in student hostels, they cost 10-20 euros a night, and you meet amazing people – people who are likeminded, who are willing to make friendships, and you feel like you’ve known these people for years now, they’re truly friendly people. Explore the city on a bicycle – get a map and bicycle, wouldn’t cost you more than 8 euros, spend the whole day cycling and you don’t spend anything. From city to city, country to country, use a website called blablacar.com that allows you to carpool, so pay less than 20 euros and you get to know a new person, or maybe more than one new person. This person will drop you off wherever you’re going. There’s a lot of ways you can save, travelling does not have to be expensive.
Also, we’re very blessed to have a huge number of exchange and international students in NUS – it allows you to socialise, network and have friends around the world but also allows you a different perspective on what you get in Singapore. It’s a shame, I think, that many of us do not actually spend a lot of time with them to get to know them well. They can offer us a different perspective on life that’s different from what we have. Many of the friends I stayed with and that allowed me to save thousands of euros, are the people I met in this very building. There are many of them whom I can call my brothers now, who would be there for me any time I need them – this is not something you would normally associate with friendships that you form with exchange students because they are not here for a long time, but humans can connect very quickly.
With several exchange students met in Tembusu, back in Europe.
So, will you be doing such an adventure again?
Oh yes, definitely, absolutely – there is no question about that. Definitely not Europe again, that’s for sure, I think that Europe was still pretty easy. I’m looking into Africa and South America as two other places that I would really love to go, but I think Africa is the first place that I want to explore. It’s a lot tougher, as I do not know many people there, but it’ll be an adventure.
Europe was a very steady start – it’s not always going to be as easy, but I’m looking forward to it, and I hope that along the way I’ll be able to convince some more of my friends to embark on these journeys whether alone or in a small group.
One of the questions that was posed by Dr John van Wyhe was how are students wasting their time?
I’m far from being perfect, I waste a lot of time. This one is a bit more – I don’t know if ‘superficial’ is the right word, but I’m a huge fan of nightlife. Not so much anymore, but I do go to clubs once or twice a month, if that is considered wasting time. But then again, it’s interesting because many of us would assume this is a waste of time, but many of the good friends that I’ve met, the good people that I’ve met, were through clubs. To me, it’s a platform where you can socialise, meet people from different countries with different mindsets.
So wasting time is more subjective, based on one’s definition and view?
Yeah, if wasting time is doing something that’s non-academic, I spend a lot of time watching air crash investigations – it’s completely separate from my field, but it’s another passion that I have. I don’t know what the purpose of this research is, but I do a lot of research on the aircraft industry, I know a lot about aircrafts, how they are engineered, and what causes different types of turbulence and why have we not been able to prevent clear air turbulence which cannot be detected, and so on.
If this is considered wasting time, then I spend a lot of time watching debates, politics, I’m very keen on global terrorism, I read a lot about it, and study it. I have a lot of knowledge on global terrorism, world history, and these are all my personal passions.
Without disrespect to people who love sleeping, something that comes to mind as wasting time is sleeping a lot. I think that’s really quite a dangerous slippery slope – once you get into it, it’s a vicious cycle. Other than that, I think sitting down with a bunch of people and badmouthing someone else, or gossiping is a huge waste of time. Also, I see gaming as a waste of time but I know this is going to be controversial because a lot of people love gaming – but I don’t know what DOTA is, I don’t know what Maple is, I don’t know what Counterstrike is, I’ve never played any computer game my entire life. So, that’s a dimension of me that’s non-existent which makes me a little boring because if you talk about games, I know nothing.
Now we’ve come to the end of the interview and would like to pose you this question: if we were to do this series again next semester and you had the opportunity to ask one question to the fellows, what would it be?
Hamza, with Professor Tommy Koh.
The question I’ve always had in mind is that Tembusu portrays itself as a home of possibilities, a place that welcomes everyone, but from their experience in this college, do they think that Tembusu College has been able to stand up to this core message? Has Tembusu stayed true to its promise of being a home of possibilities for every individual who steps in?
I’m finishing my 2 years here, now, and the impression when I first stepped in… I had a place in Kent Ridge Hall, but I had also applied to Tembusu, and I came here because I bought in to the idea of a ‘home of possibilities,’ a place that welcomes everyone where people did not have to fit in to a certain lifestyle. But now that I’m finishing my time, it’s just my opinion, but I think that Tembusu is far, far away from actually embracing this core message. Again, I represent just one opinion – there are 600 students and all of them might say something else. So, just based on the fellows’ experience, do they believe that the college has been able to achieve that, or is there more work that needs to be done?
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This interview series was conducted by Ong Kah Jing and Vanessa Teo, with images from Hamza’s personal collection.
Thumbnail image by Ong Kah Jing.