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It is currently past 10pm in Dublin, and my anxiety has kept me from writing this piece until now. My anxiety and I have become somewhat friendly enemies over the years, especially since I moved from Austria to study at University College Dublin.

This decision was driven by my ambition and competitiveness. Studying abroad represented my desire to move beyond the expectation that I would stay in Austria my whole life and prove to myself that I could achieve more.

I have always wanted to explore the world, meet new people, travel, learn new languages and cultures. During my bachelor’s degree, I spent the summer as a scholar and thesis student in the US to improve my research skills. There I had a valuable experience interacting with many people of different backgrounds and cultures.

I received my undergraduate degree in molecular biology and genetics from TU Dresden in Germany.

I was born in  the Iranian capital of Tehran, and have enjoyed playing video games from an early age. This passion led me to pursue a career in computers and technology, culminating in a bachelor’s degree in software engineering and my first master’s degree in eCommerce, to understand the connection between technology and businesses. 
 

I knew that going back to school in my forties would be difficult. However, I did not realise how complex it would be until my second day in Dublin. As I walked outside, I noticed that I could not tell the difference between the street and the sidewalk (or pavement, as the Irish say).

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Studying abroad can be an experience that is rich in opportunities for gaining new skills. But it also comes with plenty of unknowns, from navigating visa requirements to finding accommodation in an unfamiliar city.

The idea of studying abroad started early for me. When I was a child, my parents would take me to France in the summer and it became my second home. When I started studying French and Italian literature at LMU Munich I knew that if I got the opportunity I wanted to spend a term in France. 

I come from a small village in Uttar Pradesh surrounded by lush green crops and mango orchards.

My father works as a farmer and my mother is a homemaker. Like my family, the major occupation of people in my village is farming, and had VidyaGyan School not selected me in 2012, I would not be sharing my study-abroad experience here.

I grew up wanting to explore the world. I knew that if I travelled, I would meet people with different cultures and languages. I would see what connects us all as human beings. 

As an anthropology student, I believe our values and beliefs are best developed by seeing the world and experiencing new things. This attitude led me to travel out of China and into Europe.

International education focuses on the application and practice of knowledge, the development of critical thinking and the enhancement of soft skills, which is what I wanted. 

Why Europe? Why the University of Amsterdam? 

I always knew I wanted to live abroad. During my junior year, I studied in Sydney, Australia and completely fell in love with it. My time studying abroad had such a significant impact on my love for travelling and learning about other cultures that I knew I wanted to experience that again. As I approached the end of my senior year of college (fourth year), I started researching how I could find my way back overseas. 

I first thought about studying abroad during the second year of my bachelor’s degree.

I was studying international relations and modern languages, specialising in Spanish and Chinese. Since my Spanish was getting pretty good and I wanted to pursue my studies at the postgraduate level, I started researching for master’s degrees in political science or international relations that would take me to Spain or Mexico.