Leaving your home country to study abroad is not an easy option to take in life but as Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, from Saudi Arabia, explains that if you are determined you can succeed.

When I came to England in 2001 to study for an environmental studies degree I didn't realise how much of a struggle it would be to complete the course.

Only the support of his family and my own determination have kept me at my desk at Leeds University, rather than on a plane back to Saudi Arabia.

It wasn't that easy really for me to come to this country for the first time - leaving behind my father and my mother. I come from a big family and I am the eldest so I am responsible for looking after them.

To come here and to wake up every day and know you will not see your parents around you it was really a big move for me to do. But .... I got over that.

Missing my family

As well as missing my family, and particularly my young son, I discovered that studying in a different academic system was going to present him me with a massive challenge.

Ahmad in Saudi Arabia with his son

For 17 years I hadn't done any studies at all so I found a really big gap in everything, in knowledge, in education. The method of teaching is completely different here than in Saudi Arabia - beside the language barrier.

But I tried to go to my target and nothing would stop me. Yes - I struggled, I didn't say I did it easily, it wasn't like drinking a glass of water for me - it wasn't.

Nearly gave up twice

There were two occasions when I very nearly gave up.

The first one it was 2002. I was struggling really and I found everything difficult. I was calling my mum and I was really crying on the phone.

It's really difficult and I cannot do it', I told my mum. 'I'm going back', I said to her and she told me, 'Don't come back without your degree!'.

And that gave me a push the way she said it, 'My son is not a failure'. And that really made me change. I could feel the power in myself.

Then in 2003 I had a nightmare involving a lot of blood. I was very upset and worried that something had happened to someone in my family. I was shocked to find out that my father had been involved in a car accident and he was badly injured. I rushed back to Saudi Arabia to care for my dad.

Ahmad when he was young with his father

I saw him in a way I don't like to see him - ill.
I would like to stay with him but then he said to me, 'If you really love me you will go and you will finish'.

And that is what I did, I flew back to Leeds University to continue my course.

Your son is an engineer

My father had abandoned his own university studies many years ago to care for his growing family. I knew my father wanted me to get the qualification he had denied himself.

At long last, in 2005, I triumphed and obtained my degree.

Well I remember 21st July when it was my graduation day. After I finished the graduation ceremony I just texted my father and I said to him, now your son is an engineer.

He immediately called me and he cried. He said he was so proud of me. That was the best gift I've ever had really.