Horizon Residences: A place I will never forget

The accommodation managed by Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) used to be at Horizon Residences. On 1 April 2018, I moved out of Horizon Residences. This was my 4th and last time moving out, as I will never return to Horizon Residences again.

Looking back, I had been staying at Horizon Residences for 3 years and 6 months. I first moved into Horizon Residences on 20 September 2014, two days before I started Stage 1 of MBBS at NUMed.

During my first few months at Horizon Residences, I was trying to adapt to my life there as I had never lived away from my family before that. Later, I got used to living there, but I started to be very busy with my studies.

That was the case from Stage 1 all the way to the 1st semester of Stage 4. Up until December 2017, I never had the opportunity to really enjoy Horizon Residences. Therefore, I didn't appreciate it and I just took it for granted.

I have once considered moving to ISV, mainly because of ISV's proximity to the NUMed campus. However, I later dismissed that consideration after the management of ISV attempted to impose an unreasonably high parking charge.

Starting from January 2018, I finally could make the most out of my stay at Horizon Residences, since the Student Selected Components (SSC) in the 2nd semester of Stage 4 are quite relaxing. I began to like Horizon Residences very much.

Horizon Residences has a nice swimming pool. Between September 2014 and December 2017, I had used it only once. However, during the 3 months between January and March 2018, I used it 4 times.

Unfortunately, on 6 March 2018, NUMed announced that for the next academic year, the NUMed managed accommodation would no longer be at Horizon Residences, instead it would be moved to EcoNest. This made me feel very sad.

Since about one year ago, I had been hearing rumours that NUMed was planning to change the accommodation. I chose not to believe it as there was no official announcement by NUMed. But now, it turned out that the rumour was true after all.

I wouldn't say Horizon Residences is perfect, it has its problems as well. It is located in Bukit Indah which is a rather overpopulated town, and I just don't like the crowd. It is also quite far away from NUMed, which caused me to be late for class at times.

I also had some bad memories at Horizon Residences. The worst one was the major power outage on 12 December 2017. Coincidentally, I was having an important examination at that time. Without electricity, everything at Horizon Residences felt so useless.

However, the fact is that nothing is perfect in this world. With good facilities, being located close to local amenities and a reasonable rental price, the NUMed accommodation at Horizon Residences is the best that it can be.

Most importantly, I had a lot of memories at Horizon Residences as I had been staying there for more than 3 years. I definitely felt sad about having to leave this place.

My contract for Horizon Residences actually lasted until August 2018. However, due to the fact that I wouldn't be doing my SSC3 and Electives in Johor, I had to move out from Horizon Residences in April 2018.

It was possible for me to continue staying at Horizon Residences by renting a unit privately. However, by doing so I wouldn't be eligible to get the waiver from NUMed for the SSC3 and Electives. As such, my only option was to stay at EcoNest for Stage 5 of MBBS.

Ever since the announcement on 6 March 2018, all that I could do was to treasure every single moment of my stay in Horizon Residences for the 26 days remaining.

I had always been lucky enough to be allocated the same unit and same room at Horizon Residences every year from Stage 1 until Stage 4. After staying in that room for so long, I felt particularly emotional when leaving it on 1 April 2018.

I knew that EcoNest would be a good place to stay as well. In fact, EcoNest has the advantage that it is located quite close to the NUMed campus. However, this didn't change the fact that I couldn't leave Horizon Residences without having strong emotions.

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