World@VCU: Saif Alotaibi from Kuwait

By Amelia Heymann

World@VCU is a VCU News feature, in partnership with the Global Education Office, that highlights students from around the world who enrich the Virginia Commonwealth University community. Saif Alotaibi is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in pre-med in the College of Humanities and Sciences.

What should we know about your home country?

Kuwait is very diverse and rich in heritage – we really are holding on to our roots. We have all sorts of traditions, culture and amazing food. If you never tasted Kuwaiti food, you’ve never tasted food!

Even though it’s really small, Kuwait is amazing. It offers students opportunities to study and learn abroad. And within Kuwait, it offers so many opportunities to all.

What inspired you to study at VCU?

I scored really well in my high school and got a pre-medical scholarship. We had three [options]: VCU, West Virginia and Wayne State University. What made me really love VCU was its faculty. I remember talking to the Global Education Office, and they were so welcoming. And there were so many opportunities when I looked up VCU. You can do research as an undergraduate at VCU. You get so lost because of how many opportunities there are.

Has there been a surprise during your time studying abroad?

The food! In Kuwait, every single thing is well-seasoned. So when I first came here, everything was over-salty. And the portions, they’re just too big. The food was a shock.

And the storms and weather were surprises, because in Kuwait, it’s either summer or – well, you don’t really get winter or spring or fall. And Richmond, in a recent week, we had all four seasons in just one week!

And the people are really nice. The U.S. just feels welcoming. I mean, just put all of the media to the side: The people here are lovely.

Share something about a significant achievement or project.

I really love research. From the first semester, the first couple of weeks, I started looking. I went to my lab instructor and told her that I want to get into research. And she said, “Just go start knocking on doors.”

And surprisingly, I did that. I started to actually knock on doors of professors. I knocked on a door and out comes my soon-to-be principal investigator, who took me onto his research team. We’re hopefully, in a couple of months, about to publish and to get a patent out.

I’ve been doing research with him since freshman year. And I earned a couple of scholarships under him. All of those are the greatest achievements I have here at VCU.

What do you like to do in your free time?

It’s one of two things. One is to watch TV or go out with my friends, and the second is to travel – and I really do love to do that more. If I have free time, I just hop on the train, get a car, get onto a plane, go somewhere that I’ve never been to. I just try to live the world. My home country is like two continents away, so I’m already new to this place. Why don’t I explore every single thing here?

Give us a glimpse into your future.

I want to cultivate and really expand my knowledge in sciences and hopefully get into medical school. It’s kind of soon to tell the specific specialty, but that’s the main blueprint. Get into medicine.

Any advice for international students just starting their journeys?

Just get out and get out of your comfort zone. Try to do things that you’ve never thought you would do. Do the things that scare you the most. Go to new places, try to explore the world you’re in. You are in a different country, so you might as well learn all of the different parts of it.

Don’t let the way that you feel, whether it’s homesickness [or] if you’re shy, stop you from the amazing opportunity that you have, which is studying abroad. Eventually you’re going to go back home, so you want to get that full experience before you go back.

And also, really study. Get in there. Don’t be afraid to ask professors anything because you think your English might stop you. Your accent is you – just go get in there. Be yourself.