Kyawt Yamin Thwin

“I’m Kyawt Yamin Thwin from Myanmar, but some people know me as Julia. My dream is to be a famous civil engineer.

“When I got my matriculation exam results, I was still unsure what my career interests were. Luckily, my parents gave me the freedom to choose what I wanted to be and which university to join. I gave it a lot of thought as it involved my future and that of my family.

“I had heard a lot of stories about poor construction of infrastructure around the world and how they resulted in tragic loss of life, so I decided I wanted to become a civil engineer – a good one building structures that were safe for users. I read as much as I could about construction engineering and observed people working on construction sites. My parents saw my interest and agreed to let me enroll in a diploma in civil engineering course at Myanmar Noble College. When I completed that, I wanted to study a degree overseas and decided on Malaysia as it has a good reputation for engineering education in Asia. Curtin Malaysia also stood out as one of the leading institutions for engineering.

“I thought I would have a hard time adapting to studies here but the lecturers and teaching methods are really good and I can learn using online resources like Moodle and Oasis.

“Miri is not a big city but that’s okay. There are places to hang out with friends and malls where you can watch movies and shop. If you love nature, sunsets in Miri are awesome and you can go on adventure trips. I’ve gotten used to life in Miri and spend most of my free time with my friends. I’m looking forward to joining swimming and dance clubs next semester to fill my leisure time.” –Kyawt Yamin Thwin, Civil Engineering student