Doing the Foundation Course in Music at the West London Institute was just a preliminary step to my going to either one of the Royal Schools of Music in London, or to an undergraduate degree in a university. After some deliberation, I decided on the latter, as I didn’t want to mix with only music students. I went ahead with my applications to a few British universities. At that time it was very difficult for foreign students to obtain local financial aid whilst studying in the UK. My elder brother had also arrived in the UK some months after myself, to pursue an Electronic Engineering course. So I understood the financial burdens placed on my parents. Nevertheless, they told us to go ahead with our studies.
Then as fate would have it, Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative party won the UK general elections, and she became Prime Minister in May 1979. The following year she announced a shocker—university fees for foreign students would be tripled from their present rates. I knew that this would have a serious impact on my parents’ ability to support both myself and my brother (who incidentally, had committed himself to completing his university education in England) Fortunately I happened to be staying with another Malaysian roommate at that time, and this guy was applying to American universities. He shared some facts and info with me, saying that there was a possibility that US universities would offer financial aid to eligible students.
What do you expect, I was barely 20, I was young, I was adventurous, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to cross the pond (i.e. the Atlantic Ocean) to America. So I went to the local library, did some research on American universities, and sent off some requests for application forms and information (no Internet then, remember? Everything was done by writing letters and mailing them)
Waited for a week or two, and then the application forms came. I applied to quite a diverse mix of universities and music conservatories, including the Eastman School of Music, Julliard, Oberlin, plus the Universities of Arizona, Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. As I said, quite an eclectic mix. I was told to take the TOEFL and SAT tests (there were centers in London of course) This I did and modesty aside, I obtained pretty good scores. Then I had to send audition tapes of my piano playing to the various universities. In those days, it was all done on reel-to-reel tape—I had to purchase the tapes myself, but fortunately the school kindly consented to let me record my performances in one of the studios. And the sound engineer (Bob, I think) was happy with a pint or two after every session. I then had to mail these tapes to the various institutions.
After some nervous waiting, I received the replies in the mail. Eastman, Julliard, and Indiana said no. Missouri said yes, but was unable to offer financial aid to me. Texas and Minnesota said yes, they’d consider offering me financial aid after I arrived and did another audition—gulp, this was risky. Wisconsin told me to wait, my application for financial aid was still pending and under consideration. But at this time, I couldn’t afford to wait. It was now September 1980 and it was too late to enter for the Fall semester of that year. The only institution that offered me a Fine Arts scholarship on the basis of my taped audition was the University of Arizona. I had to make up my mind before it was too late, so I said yes to them.
The next thing I had to do was to get a US student visa. Not too difficult huh, considering that London had the largest US Embassy in the world at that time. Off I went, and by golly that place was like a fortress—this was just after the recent Iranian hostage crisis in November 1979. I was frisked, and ushered in. I waited for hours and hours to see an officer, and finally what happened was this—they told me that nobody was free to see me then and would I please return again for another appointment? UGH. Yeah, yeah, these things happen. Anyway, I managed to secure my student visa on the next trip, thank goodness.
Now I had to make the travel arrangements. Booked a one-way ticket from London to Los Angeles on Sir Freddie Laker’s Skytrain. I had made arrangements with the University to stay in one of the dorms. There would also be someone meeting me at LAX on arrival (it was something like a voluntary organization for foreign students) to guide me through Immigration and Customs. However, I’d be on my own from LA to Tucson, Arizona.
So one fine winter’s day in January 1981 I boarded a British Rail train from London’s Victoria Station and headed south to Gatwick Airport to catch my flight to the US. As the plane took off, I whispered a sad and fond farewell to England.
