Blogs

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Imagine walking along the canals in the Netherlands, the water shimmering in the sunlight and purple and yellow flowers blooming around you. There’s a windmill in the distance and the smell of something sweet in the air. You almost forget that you’ve slept for only three hours on the plane, that you have two suitcases bumping along behind you and that, with your spotty signal, you’re pretty sure Google Maps has lost you.

I grew up in Bogor, a small city about two hours drive from the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta. I then lived in Jakarta for several years to study and work. After finishing my master’s degree, I worked in the World Bank office in Jakarta. From then, I knew my passion was to work for international development organisations.

Choosing to study international business administration (IBA) at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University in the Netherlands was one of the best decisions I ever made. 

Sponsored content: created in partnership with Ho Chi Minh City Open University.

I am writing this blog on 23 January 2023, which marks 12 months since I boarded my flight to Madrid to begin my year studying abroad. I was doing a year overseas with my home university, the University of Texas at Austin. I remember my energy and eagerness. It feels surreal thinking back to how 2022 started when now feels like the typical start to another year.  

I arrived in France in September 2021 full of dreams, fears and a swirl of emotions that I still can’t describe clearly.

I am from Colombia and grew up in a number of different cities around the country. I completed my undergraduate degree in civil engineering at EAFIT University in Medellín in 2021. During my degree, I discovered a passion for research, knowledge and a specific engineering field: computational mechanics.

Moving to a different country, leaving your friends, family and everything you know, can be daunting and scary. There were times when I had second thoughts and questioned if moving abroad was right for me. Many do not realise how difficult it is to move away and live as an international student in the hopes of a better life, career and future.   

But now that I’m halfway through my studies, I can happily say it was the best choice I ever made. It made me independent and confident and I grew as a person. So, if you are considering this path, I couldn’t recommend it enough.  

I was born and brought up in New Delhi, India, where I spent the first 17 years of my life as the single child of a working father and homemaker mother. I grew up in a good family and had great friends, so I wouldn’t say I grew up with the dream of leaving my country.

My journey toward an international education began when I was 15 years old, when my parents asked whether I might be interested in studying abroad.