Fares Alahmadi shares the latest information regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in his WeChat Moments. He wrote a story for the Arabic edition of People's Daily about China's fight against COVID-19. [Photo/jschina.com.cn]

Fares Alahmadi, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said that his daily life is now simple and rich.

"I usually stay in the laboratory all day and time flies even before you noticed," he said.

Looking back to the days in early 2020 when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was sweeping across China, Alahmadi said he yearned for nothing more than a peaceful life.

Like many other overseas students, Alahmadi also contributed his part to help in the fight against the sudden COVID-19 outbreak in China in early 2020, as well as promoted the country's prevention and control measures in international arenas.

At the time, a student at Nanjing Forestry University who had been living in the city for six years, Alahmadi felt it was his duty to share what he has seen and wrote a story for the Arabic edition of People's Daily discussing China's fight against the COVID-19 outbreak and comparing it with the H1N1 outbreak in the Unites States in 2009.

"Many Arabians now live, work or study in China and there are also many who do business with China. They all have showed concern over the outbreak, but there was little news about it in the Arabic-speaking world," Alahmadi said.

He decided to share everything he knew with his Arabic-speaking friends and family, calling on his compatriots to support the Chinese government's efforts.

The COVID-19 outbreak got under control in Jiangsu in early March and Alahmadi said that his studies, work, and life came back to order then.

He started preparing for the doctoral application and reach out to a few potential mentors.

"Life has to go on and so as my studies," he said.

Looking into the year 2021, the young man said that he hoped the COVID-19 pandemic will draw to an end as soon as possible and that his research will go smoothly.

Fares Alahmadi converses with his classmates at Southeast University. [Photo/jschina.com.cn]