MARCH 1990: My parents bring me to the swimming pool. In the water I finally feel free.

JANUARY 1999: I meet my best friend at our secondary school, we are in the same class and club. She will fast become the other sister I never had, who shall forever change my life with her kindness.

JUNE 2000: Grandma passes away. I know I will see her again, so I am not feeling as upset as the others. In her hospital room the patient next to her tells us that she pulled her own breathing apparatus off.

FEBRUARY 2004: The school that I am in now has a swimming club and I am over the moon: I am part of the swim team now!

DECEMBER 2008: Standing in the middle of the streets in Nha Trang, Vietnam, I get an overseas phone-call from my mum. She tells me that my father had died unexpectedly after they checked into the hotel in Genting, Malaysia. She is crying hysterically. I am shocked and unresponsive. Is this real? I was chatting with him on the phone just yesterday.

JULY 2009: I am boarding a plane to move to Beijing for the next two years for my studies.

SEPTEMBER 2010: I finally graduate from my Double Degree Programme. It feels like a massive achievement, but it also gives me a shocking sensation of how I just slumbered years through a course that I preferred to not be studying in.

NOVEMBER 2010: I am on a sappan on the Mekong River in Vietnam. There are two other backpackers and I say «Hello!» to them. One of them will be the love of my life in two years.

JANUARY 2011: I am walking my first pet dog. He is not very friendly to my mother, but I love him already.

FEBRUARY 2012: I am about to move to a new city to become a cabin crew working in the skies! I will go to cities I never dreamt of visiting. Many friends and family are envious, some jealous, some think I should not leave my medical education for «a job like this». But at this moment I am thankful for the chance to leave my comfort zone.