Student Snapshot: The multicultural environment at RSU feels like home

Jerzen Benny comes from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. His parents are originally from India, but moved to the Gulf area before Jerzen was born. He is currently in his final year of medicine at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and is doing his internal medicine placement in paediatric cardiology at the Children's Clinical University Hospital.

What sparked your interest in your specialty?

Ever since I joined medical school, I’ve felt like cardiology was the field that I wanted to end up in. I really like the heart in general. A lot of people prefer not to study the heart, because they think it’s complicated. 

Tell me more about your inspiration to become a doctor.

Well, to be completely honest, I would say it came from within. I really liked science as a kid and biology in particular. I always felt that going into something biology-related would be a good idea; there are a lot of career options when studying medicine. 

What are some misconceptions people often have about the United Arab Emirates, and how would you dispel them?

When I first meet people here and they hear I'm from the Emirates, and Dubai specifically, their first reaction is usually, "oh, wow, skyscrapers and sand!" But this is not the full picture!

Yes, we do have skyscrapers, we have an impressive skyline, and of course there's a part that is just desert – the entire country basically formed from sand in 1971, so it's a very young country. Because of that, a lot of buildings and structures are considered brand new even though we do also have old forts.  

In a lot of ways, people kind of ignore the country as a whole and just focus on Dubai and maybe Abu Dhabi as well, which is the capital. The UAE in general has a lot of nature too, but not nature in a European sense. We don't have forests, for example, but we do have rocky mountains if you go more to the north and the northeast. 

There is a divide in the population. The local population, the Emiratis, are very friendly and hospitable people, but they are also a minority in their own country. Only about 11% of the population is a local, true Emirati, so it's not likely you're going to run into them. Most of the population is built up of expatriates and I would say that the majority of them come from countries like India, the Philippines, and the UK.  

It was a great place to grow up. I don't personally speak formal Arabic, but when I'm out and about, I can speak the local, Emirati dialect. It's one of those languages where each country or region has its own dialect. Modern Standard Arabic is usually reserved for the news or government channels. Our family tried its best to integrate and learn about the country instead of just sticking to the bubble of people from our country of origin like a lot of people do.  

How did you find RSU?

What were some challenges you faced when you came to RSU?

When I initially moved here, I was fresh out of high school, so I definitely applied my high school way of working to my studies and to everything else. There was also the factor that I was moving to a whole different country, a whole different continent, which was something that I had to get used to. Because of these two factors, I went through a bit of an adjustment period. Luckily it didn't affect my studies too much. 

I wouldn't say that I was struggling, but it did take a while for me to sort of figure out my rhythm. Since I did that things have been much easier.

How do you navigate cultural differences and ensure mutual respect while interacting with the international community at RSU?

I would say that I personally genuinely enjoy the multi-cultural environment. This is also partially due to where I'm from, because Dubai is a very multicultural city. You're going to meet people from anywhere there and this is something that I truly cherished as a kid.  

When I was little, you’d get to celebrate everybody's holidays, because you would have one neighbour who celebrated Christmas and another who celebrated Eid. So for me, coming to RSU, and specifically to the group that I'm in, felt familiar.

We were a very international group – from Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, and then me from the Emirates. I enjoy being in these kinds of environments and experiencing the cultural differences. Of course, you need to have self-awareness and respect other people's cultures and traditions. 

You were one of the first students to receive an RSU student ambassador scholarship! Can you tell me more about it?

The scholarship entails becoming an ambassador of RSU and spreading the message about the university to prospective students on an international level. I actually run a YouTube channel where I upload videos about how to study and things like that. It’s currently pretty idle, because I haven’t had the time to sit down to create and edit videos. The Ambassador Scholarship felt like a natural extension of that.

What are your plans for the future?

I truly enjoy paediatric cardiology and working with the team right now at the Children's Clinical University Hospital. It is, however, a very difficult sub-specialty, so the residency is going to take more time. 

As for my more general plans, I just want to see where it goes. I would love to move to a different European country, but part of me also thinks I should move back home. Becoming a consultant or a specialist and then moving back home to Dubai to work as a doctor would be a good idea. There is more private healthcare in the UAE. We do have public hospitals, but the majority of hospitals are essentially private. You tend to get compensated really well for your work, but of course you need to have the necessary qualifications for that as well. I'm sort of in the middle of figuring out where I want to go, where I want to be, and hopefully it'll work out.