Abroad education- first impressions

Posted on November 25, 2023 • 4 minutes • 717 words

A beautiful dream with excitement brimmed within,
The path though slim, held hope evergreen.
Curiously I choose the next drill,
aware I'm dancing to destiny's will.
An unseen hand guiding every step ahead,
unfloding a new narrative to the heart's content.
Now I took flight to the realm unknown,
but filled with brightest colours known
All that stands between is the veil of faith
that thy hand would carry all my weight.
With strong will and a calm smile, I stand agile,
ready to embrace and cross any mile.
With these thoughts, I started my journey from my home country India to Switzerland for my PhD studies. The dream of doing a PhD abroad dates back to the time when I did not keep track of time when I was restless and dared to dream fiction. Yes, it was during high school, the days when the future was filled with unseen bright colours. And right now, this has become a concrete jewel. So here I am, to share my initial experiences. Firstly, Switzerland is a beautiful country. While I did not get to explore much in these few days, the scenic views, the vintage hut-style houses, and the warm and kind people I met gave me a lasting impression of welcome. The striking difference that I see from India to Switzerland, although obvious, is the number of people. There was never a time when I did not get a seat on the tram. It might sound funny, but Indians would know the joy of not finding a seat in a metro. Although the number of people here is lesser, the impact they create is enormous. People here loosely dictate a warm social interaction. I see times when the receptionist thanks you more than you thank them, times when the neighbour looks straight into your eyes to wish you a good day, times when a stranger walks to your confused face to help you with the directions, or the times when the supervisor would buy you a lunch. People here have no sense of power distance and I was told that not calling a senior with his name could be disrespectful. These are not the only kinds of cultural shocks I have seen. The other day after coming out of a mini-symposium, I saw the organizers distributing booze, like distributing tea in India. While alcohol is common, they also respect others' drinking and dietary restrictions which I admire about them.

Enough about my insights. Now, let me share my explorations. As a great man once said, “Every exploration needs a stable settlement”. And in less than a month, many milestones of settling into a new place are now completed. I found a permanent place to stay, got my B-permit, my insurance, my complete enrollment to the lab, and the university, and I started working in the lab, and am attending my course lectures too. I would say that’s a solid ground to jump from. I stay in Basel, the place where languages, cultures, and lands of Germany, France, and Switzerland converge. So I visited the Basel border triangle. It is the closest land (Rhine Harbour) to the midpoint of all three country borders. I also enjoyed a road trip to Zurich, then visited the pilgrimage, Mariastein. It is said that the Pilgrims come here to thank Mother Mary for her assured protection at difficult times and the whole hallway is filled with thank-you notes in different languages. I then visited the Basel Zoo and got to see the many exotic and cold-acclimated animals that I never got to see back in Indian zoo parks. I have also visited Augusta Raurica, the place that hosts remnants of Roman civilisation. The hilly landscapes with green cover iced with the rocky Roman amphitheatre was a cinematic view indeed.

Overall, moving to a new place, interacting with a new culture and embracing pleasant uncertainties is kind of fun. I cook and enjoy Indian food in my home, I met many Indians here, I am bonding with the nice colleagues and locals, and It all looks stable, yet… I would not call it homesick, but I think the heart will always carry the roots while the mind reaches out to the stars. So I stand agile, ready to embrace and cross any mile.