Zainab Alidina is a global grad in the Masters of Public Health program, focusing on Maternal and Child Health. She was born in Tanzania and has lived significant parts of her life in both the UK and Canada.
1. What made you choose UNC/NC when deciding on a program/place to study?
UNC’s Public Health program is renowned for being one of the best in the country. It is also one of the few schools that has a Maternal and Child Health department within its School of Public Health. I visited UNC prior to applying to the MPH program, and the conversations I had with students and faculty convinced me this would be a great fit for me.
2. What is the most different thing you’ve seen or experienced since being here in comparison to your home country?
The amount of paperwork needed for everything here is one thing I have noticed that is very different to back home. I’m just glad a lot of things can be done online now to make it easier and more efficient.
3. What is something you wish you had known before moving here?
I wish I had known how car-dependent this area is. The lack of public transportation on weekends and between different areas of the Triangle has been difficult to adjust to.
4. Where is a place in your home country that every tourist should visit and why?
It is hard to pick just one place, but if I had to, I would say the Ngorongoro Crater. It is the world’s largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera that was formed 2-3 million years ago when a large volcano exploded and collapsed into itself. It is also in the same area as the Olduvai Gorge which I’m sure every paleontologist would love to visit.