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Mudher with baby elephant

Mudher surfing in Lombok, Indonesia

Mudher eating street food in Hanoi, Vietnam

Central Hong Kong

Imagine taking a trip overseas in the middle of your degree, being able to take classes at a local university and even travelling to nearby countries. To many, that sounds like an expensive and unreachable endeavour.

Mudher Al Noori is proof that there are ways to get funding for Education Abroad programs, because as the recipient of no less than three awards, a good portion of his expenses were covered by the U of A.

Mudher knew he wanted to go abroad on exchange, but the thought of how much it could cost almost discouraged him entirely. Once he had done his research and applied for funding, it wasn't long before he found himself in possession of the Alberta-Hong Kong Young Scholars Exchange Award, the Yeo Family International Exchange Award in Business and funding from the program. The latter acted as financial aid, while the others were scholarships, totalling an impressive $7,900.

And so Mudher began his relatively stress-free journey to the . He wanted to see a new part of the world, one that he didn’t know too much about, and as a finance student, HKUST has one of the best programs. It didn’t disappoint, as he took courses on corporate strategy and AI, in addition to beginners’ Mandarin.

The highlight of his exchange, however, were the people he met and the places he went. Mudher fondly recalls all the memories he shared with the friends he made. He reminisces about a specific one — a trip to the Philippines. 

“There's this island called Siargao that's the surf capital of the Philippines. I have this image of my two friends and I; we're just out in the sea, on our surfboards, waiting for waves and we're just kind of hanging out.”

Mudher credits Hong Kong for how easy it was to travel to different countries in Southeast Asia. He got to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan, but his first trip to the Philippines was so memorable that he visited the country twice more! 

He emphasizes the importance of being open to new experiences. That might seem obvious — if you decide to go abroad, you must be open to it, right? Even so, not everyone who goes abroad really understands that openness and a lack of judgement have the power to make or break the experience. When you’re in an environment starkly different from your own, it’s only human nature to seek explanations for those discrepancies through judgement, whether positive or negative. The key is to not let the negativity cloud what could be an amazing experience. 

“I think just being out there, just being welcoming of what experiences you have and being open to enjoying yourself. I enjoyed travelling, making new friends and just letting loose. Letting go of the expectations that I've had coming in and just being flexible.” 

Mudher acknowledges that, “The more money you have going in, the less you have to worry about and the more fun you get to have. I wasn't expecting to get any money and then I got the majority of it funded.”