Meet Aleiya

Image provided by Aleiya.

Aleiya is a 20 year-old N-Level student who has hopes of pursuing a career in nursing.

How do you spend your free time?

I play guitar and go fishing. I’ve been playing the guitar since I was 14. I only went for a guitar lesson once, and learnt how to play within that day.

Do you like performing?

I’ve performed once in a competition when I was 14 or 15 - but it was for singing! I think I got third place. Now I mostly play at home because my whole family likes singing! Almost everyone plays the guitar. We love playing music during family gatherings.

Where’s your favourite fishing spot?

I like fishing at ponds - obviously those where we’re allowed to fish haha. My boyfriend taught me how to fish in the last two years. I like fishing in places that are almost jungle-like, it feels more adventurous.

What do you do with the fish after?

I keep the fish I catch in my tank! They’re all pretty big. I also have an exotic turtle, it’s called a pig-nosed turtle. Normal turtles have toes and all but this one resembles a sea turtle, so it’ll probably grow really big too.

What’s his name?

Arnold. But I like to call him Crush - like the sea turtle in Finding Nemo!

How do you take care Arnold?

He loves strawberries so I give him lots of it. I don’t dare to hand feed him yet because I have a bit of a phobia of it. In my old home we had a really big turtle and we would just let it roam around. One day while I was sleeping it suddenly came towards me and bit my finger. Very pain! Weird because they don’t have teeth but the impact was enough. After that I didn’t want to touch it anymore.

You sound like you really like animals!

I do! My number one favourite animals are cats, I have three at home now. I already had a Norwegian Forest, but one day my boyfriend and I saw a super cute black kitten on the streets. The area had a lot of dogs so I just decided to bring her home! The two of them ended up having five more kittens and that was too much for me...so I only kept one.

How did you get interested in nursing?

A fun fact about me is that I didn’t know any English when I entered primary school and I received a lot of help in order to catch up. Since then my aim has been to help others, even if it’s not nursing. One of the ways I’m trying to do so is participating in a telegram channel that posts volunteering opportunities!

Any memorable experiences from it?

The funny thing is, I found this group when I was asking for help. During the CB period I couldn’t work...I don’t like asking people for money but I filled in their form just to see what kind of help was available. Suddenly someone texted me saying they had already transferred me $100! I felt really bad even though the person told me not to return her the money. In the end I decided to distribute the money to others who needed it, and I’ve remained in that channel ever since.