Why study abroad?
what can you gain from studying in a foreign country — my experience.
Going abroad to study was one of the best decisions I made in life. I understand that it is a huge privilege to be able to afford to study abroad. But if you have the opportunity, please consider studying abroad. It could either be in the form of an short internship or a semester exchange or a complete Masters or PhD program. Why do I insist so much on this? Here are a few reasons:
New opportunities
As a woman from a highly male-dominated engineering university in India, studying abroad was a huge culture-shock. The culture-shock was finding that my male academic-supervisor in Germany took my work seriously! Yes, I know how ridiculous this statement sounds. But I realized how hard I was trying in India, as compared to my male-peers, for my work to be taken seriously in my Indian university. As a result, I often felt inferior to them, which in turn affected my performance. But once I realized that the problem lies with the cis-Brahmanical-patriarchal Indian academia, not me, I could achieve things I never thought I would.
In short— be ready to have your notions — both, your own and those forced on you by society — challenged by the opportunities you’d be presented with.
Inter cultural exchange
The students in my Masters program hailed from diverse countries. I got this beautiful opportunity to interact with them, get to know their culture, habits and interests which I couldn’t otherwise. For instance, I found so many similarities between Iranian and Indian culture, food, etc. from my Persian classmates. I got exposed to literature from different countries and their resistance movements, which helped me better understand and appreciate our Dalit-Bahujan movement back home.
Social network
Through interactions with students and locals, I realized that my social skills have undergone a dramatic change from being a shy person to a confident one, who can hold a conversation beyond small-talk. There was no dearth of events happening around me, be it academic, cultural or student parties. Usually there would be some activity outside academics that one can pursue like sports, language, arts, dramatics, etc.
Language skills
I used my spare time to take the free German language course my Uni offered. Apart from Uni, there were always language-learning groups and where people would meet in a cafe or bar and practice learning a language with each other. A new language opens many doors. It has helped me navigate my life much better in Germany while giving me the confidence to stand up to any situation, good or bad that might present itself.
Professional network
During my Masters program I took up a part-time job as a student assistant in my university. I browsed through all the research groups and picked one that I found most fascinating even though I had no experience in that particular topic before. The result was that I could use my time to learn something new (in this case it was C++, Python and OpenFOAM) and get paid for it! It also helped me identify the current research topics in that field and the academic-groups around the world working on them. Working with a PhD student as my supervisor gave me an insight into a PhD’s students grueling life :). I was also part of the research group meetings, outings, lunches which helped me understand the professional work environment in Germany.
Travel
If you like traveling, then this is the best thing that can happen to you. As a student, all you need to do is grab a few more students and start planning your next trip. I learned the different ways in which one can travel in Europe, especially if you are strapped for cash. My favorite being couchsurfing — thanks to which I have met some of my best friends.
Independence
I learned how to live alone, independently and found immense joy in it.
