Hey I’m a new member to this organization and this is my first blog! I am a foreign student studying medicine in Pakistan, residing in a hostel and enjoying life here.  I’m glad that I came to know about this site and all its other branches i.e. One Pakistan, One Nation, PAM etc.  I think this is a great opportunity for people of all ages to flush out their thoughts and voice their opinions on various aspects of  life.  I enjoy reading everyone’s comments, arguments and discussions.  What really excites me is that I can jump in and state my view on an issue or start a conversation of my own.  Plus the fact that there are people out there who are actually reading my comments or articles and responding  to them which urges me to write more.   I’ve joined forums where I wouldn’t get a response for weeks and, discouraged, I would just quit.

I study at an International Medical College but seriously I think they should remove the word “international”.   Just making a new campus or a well furnished building does not bring it to an international standard. Let me start from the hostel.  Yes, its a very big and beautiful building with fountains, shiny floors, and sunlit hallways.  Beside just focusing on the outer look I think they need to improve their services.

The food provided is just average, sometimes not even edible, and there have been cases of food poisoning.  I mean we didn’t request for anything out of the ordinary,  just good, EDIBLE food.   We order out almost every other day, plus pay for the food we sometimes dont even touch.  I think a proper breakfast includes milk, juice, bread and its accessories.   Not just a bag of bread and jams that are NEVER properly stored and probably months old.  Yes we have a water cooler but the bottle is NEVER changed, just refilled with boiled water.  Once a week, just once on that day there is distribution of  juice or milk.  Do they really think we’re being fooled?    Like children at some Edhi homes, we are handed juices or little milk packs (at dinner time ONLY) and they expect us to be happy.   OH! The best time of the year is when a high official comes to visit the hostel..the STAGE that is set to fool them as well.   The Governor of Sindh, Vice Chancellor of our university and other high officials have visited the hostel.   On those wonderful days, our dining hall tables are spick and span, there are tissue rolls on every table, soap in almost all the soap dishes, half a dozen bottles of mineral water and soda on the food counter along with great food.   But unfortunately that only lasts only for as long as our visitor is present.   After he/she leaves they go ”pack it up people, the show is over”.   And when our lovely visitors question us about our hostel environment we have to put up with the stern looks on our warden’s faces as if their saying “Say something against us and we’ll deal with you later….” I mean this is TERRORISM! Using the thousands of rupees our hard working parents pay them, to do something else, but show something else to the authorities.     Utmost HYPOCRICY!       

 Then we have the problem with cleanliness, and this is a MEDICAL school we’re talking about. Height of Miserliness:  There are twelve basins in our dining hall, but only one of them has a half a piece of soap in the soap dish! Seldom we find a single small size tissue roll on the food counter to wipe our hands with.   And rarely are all the tables in our dining hall wiped clean after we are done eating.   The mess made at dinner is still there till morning when we come down for breakfast.   DISGUSTING! Not to mention there are cats running around too!…  The maids increase rates for whenever they want.  I mean increase the rates but then provide us with better service.   But, NO! The service gets worse with the rising rates.  In order to get your room cleaned one must request the maid at least five times and sometimes even that doesn’t work.   Knowing that we are dismissed from college at 3:00, thier duty time ends at 4:00! So after I come back from school, have my lunch and by the time I tell one of the maids to clean my room they would say “ab tho time khatam hone wala hai, kal kardenge” when there is still at least 45 minutes left! SICKENING! If you tell them to wash your dishes, the dishes are never returned (well atleast they weren’t to me).   As long as I know it’s a GIRL’S hostel, then what are MEN doing here?! Cooking and making rotis? Couldn’t they find more women to do these jobs?

They mention the ”MODERN TECHNOLOGY”  in the prospectus, but let me clearly state that “THERE IS NO MODERN TECHNOLOGY!”  provided.   We pay for our own internet and electrical appliances (microwaves, electric kettle, fridge etc.).   We have a library in our hostel with no books, a masjid with no rugs, a common sitting room with nothing but a table.   Plus NO aironditioning at any area in the hostel! How do they expect us international students to survive the summer heat with just a single fan in the room.  We are not allowed to possess an airconditioner, and if we get any other kind or air cooling device we must get it at our own expense!  I think a personal apartment would cost me much less!

Well I’ll stop here now because my brain is growing tired. But don’t worry I’ll be back with PART TWO! of my wonderful experiences and possible solutions.