My International Friends - 2

 In the second semester of 2009, I was enrolled in a unit called "Enterprise Software Architecture," which is probably the most influential unit to me. The second assignment was to work in a group to develop a service-oriented architecture system. My Vietnamese friend, my Malaysian friend, and I formed a group. Every late afternoon, we would gather together to do the assignment. Our Vietnamese friend was very good at C# and became the main developer for the C# component. I took charge of the Java component, and our Malaysian friend focused more on the report as his English was the best among the three of us. When we were tired or hungry, we would go to Queen Street to buy food for dinner. Besides studies, we had lots of conversations, which allowed me to know much about life in their countries. I was very grateful to know them in my first year after arriving in Australia, as they gave me a strong feeling of friendship after I left my homeland.

We almost got full marks on the assignment, and my Vietnamese friend said it was like a miracle as too many of his friends failed the unit. This excellent academic performance directly led me to the opportunity to work for C-YAWL in the BPM team with Marcello, who was from Italy and had just got his PhD degree earlier that year. I'd heard many times that he was the best PhD student QUT ever had in this area. The main reason for me to choose to work with him for a project was that he still didn't have any research students. I thought it was more likely to be able to do a challenging project with him. I had a very good impression of him in the unit, as whenever I raised a question, he could answer it clearly and rationally. Many years later when I joined the BPM team again, I often felt it a pity to not be able to work with Marcello, whom I viewed as more of a friend than a teacher.

During the summer holiday, I stayed mostly in the office of the BPM team on Margaret Street. I made a few friends, including an exchange student from Tsinghua University and a PhD student under Arthur from Iran. I was very unfamiliar with the culture in Iran. However, through sincere conversations, we could still communicate. It was then that I realized that problems in an individual's life are typically quite similar, no matter where we are from. He wanted to do research as he felt proved to himself if he could solve tough problems. However, he felt it too hard to progress in his research, putting him under huge pressure. In addition, he still couldn't win Arthur's trust to provide him enough financial support. I could fully understand his dilemma.

The start of the first semester in 2010 was rather melancholy. My Vietnamese friend and Thailand friend had graduated. I almost couldn't find them anymore on campus. Except one day I saw a familiar back view—my Thailand friend was photographing on campus. He said he'd got a job and used half a year's earnings to buy a camera.

My mind was rather disturbed during that period under financial pressures and anxiety due to immigration policy changes. Moreover, my scholarship to the SAIVT research group was said to have failed. "Is it really that competitive? I don't imagine who can get the scholarship when you can't!" Marcello said when I told him. "Two students from Sri Lanka just joined the lab." I said, "I think I've lost to them."

To make myself happier, I enrolled in a unit called "AI for Games," which was lectured by Rune for computer games' agent development. Most students in this unit were in the major of computer games, and they really liked what they were studying. "In fact, you're hard-pressed to find a job in the computer games industry!" Rune frankly said, "But you're most likely to get a job in other related areas like simulation or computer graphics." I asked my Malaysian friend whether he was worried about a job. "Not at all. If only one in the class can find such a job, I will be that one." He's always optimistic, and this was why I said I would be happier to study with him.

One afternoon, I entered the BPM team's office to submit all materials to Marcello. He was in Arthur's office. I heard Arthur blaming him with his fluent English in a bit of a Dutch accent. "Do you know how important this work is? You should give the project to a PhD student rather than a master's degree student by coursework!" Arthur said. "Arthur, but he's excellent. He's more excellent than any PhD student in the team," Marcello said. "I know he's excellent. I can't disagree with you on this point. But this is not your paper. It's Wil's!" Arthur said.

I then knocked on the door, and Arthur's face suddenly smiled merrily when I came in. I told him that if they found any issues in the codes I submitted, I would still try my best to fix them. Under Sridha's plan, I enrolled in a unit for signal processing and image processing. I grouped with two students for the assignment: one of them was from India, and the other was from Saudi Arabia. The student from Saudi Arabia often asked me to tutor him. Then later he said I was his friend. "Do you want to migrate to our country?" he said. "No," I refused politely. "I don't think I can master your language that easily."