Hello all!
I want to share the story of my journey to Europe and how I successfully got a study place and an unexpected love story that came along with it.
It all started in August 2014, 3 months after my bachelor graduation, when I found that I always wanted to do pursue a career in research. I also know that the chance for this career in very low in Indonesia. There are not many research Labs and it seems like research culture is not very well promoted in the country. At least that's the impression that I get from my country about scientific research. The decision to study abroad also was always made before I even decided my study field.
My education background: I did my bachelor study in Biotechnology from University of Pune, India. I pursued this because I was awarded a scholarship from the Government of India. I was quite lucky actually and getting into the biotech program guided me even further towards research, especially in medicine and engineering.
Then, as I kept searching and applying for a relevant study program around Europe, I found a course in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, in Vienna, Austria. Who would have thought that this field is actually the current state-of-the-art for tissue regeneration and healing? And it is very cool to be able to create an implant, or your own personalized tissue if you have a broken bone, or a wound. This is where I am investing myself into, where I can work in laboratory for hours and deal with cell culture and toxicity testing. But of course, I was aiming for something bigger. My dream is to do research in cancer biology and stem cells.
In January 2015, I managed to get on the right track towards my admission. However, the earliest academic year I could apply was only in September 2015 (winter semester). I patiently waited, and I received an invitation letter for an entrance exam for admission. I agreed that this was not an easy process, because I had to appear for this exam, I flew all the way to Europe with only a 3 month visa (this was the only thing they granted me with a university invitation for an exam). With all my determination, and all savings I had, I encouraged myself to go for it.
After waiting for few months, finally in February, 29th 2015, I got the visa in my hand. I was so excited to visit a completely new country , and to practice my Deutsch skills. In March 3rd 2015, I flew from Bali to Singapore, then Paris to Vienna. It was a 16 hours flight, and I stayed strong because I knew I went for good, and for my future.
After 3 days staying in Vienna, I found someone's account from Internation. He was from Indonesia but had stayed in Sydney, Australia for his whole life. I could not think about anything more than just being friends. That saturday, we decided to meet and hang out as I was also going to meet my other Austrian friend.
His name is Eugene. There, in front of the tallest church, Stephansdom, Vienna, I met him for the first time. He greeted me with his warmth and I honestly enjoyed my time with him. He showed me things around, even though he was also new to the city. He came to vienna a week before me, and would stay only for a semester exchange.
Days passed by, and I and Eugene somehow met regularly. We went for coffee and sightseeing. I forgot to mention that on the day we met, (march 6th), it was the last day of Wiener Eistraum, so he asked me to go ice skating. I was not really good, well actually I suck at it and never ice skated before. But I took my courage and said yes, eventhough I kept holding on to the rail. But with his kindness, I was not feeling afraid.
In the end of March, during the easter break, He asked me to go with him for a trip around eastern Europe. I was flattered, because among all the people in his class who had asked him to spend easter break with him, he chose to be with me. That time, I knew that this feeling was more than just attraction as friends. I admitted that our love started to grow. We started our trip to Bratislava (a day trip), where he really showed that he cared for me. He noticed that I was feeling cold. On the way back to Wien, he hugged me in the bus. To me, this is the unexpected surprise in my life. but, knowing that I only have 2 months in Vienna, while he had to stay for 6 months and would go back to Sydney after his exchange, I started to think that I might be too shallow if I told him how I actually felt.
Our next trip was to Prague, Budapest and Ljubljana. We did everything in 10 days, by train. It was so memorable and kinda the most romantic experience. The whole Europe vibes, the weather and his company, made me think that, I had missed all the joys this whole time by being frustrated about my life and getting into good school. I realized that I deserve to feel this way, and I would never waste such opportunity, to be in a special place with a special someone, who is so worth it.
April 2015, I was at the end of my Deutsch course and I completed the entrance exam and the interview smoothly. I was offered a study place for the next academic year in September 2015. For this, I had to go back to my country and apply for an Austrian residency permit for student. This, of course is totally different from visa, and it took longer in the application (also more documents).
My story with Eugene did not end here. We made a promise to see each other again, when I came back to Europe in September, and when he would also be in Italy for his next exchange.
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