“From Home to Horizon: My Erasmus Adventure”
How many times did you hear “making friends from all over the world”, “experiencing new culture”, and “having the best parties”?
Or else, do you believe in a fairytale, where you don’t have any home, family, or financial problems, and the only thing you do is to enjoy life and make everyone jealous?
Let me start from the beginning! I am Sattorov Sukhrob. Just a simple guy who was born in the J. Rasulov region in 2000. In 2018 after thinking a lot and getting recommendations from everyone about where to apply to the university after school, I first tried to apply to any Russian or Chinese universities, the goal was to study somewhere abroad, but then I changed my mind and tried to apply for the National University of Tajikistan or any other alternative universities in Dushanbe. After long last when I realized that there is a university in Khujand called – IET TSUC that gives some opportunities to spend a semester in some European Universities, I applied to this university without any doubt.
Introductions are always boring … right?
Okay… let me jump quickly to my Erasmus story. I applied to 3 European universities when I was in my second year. But … seems … God had a different plan for me. I couldn’t make it and was disappointed. Started to question myself – why out of 7000 students in the university and out of 30-40 students who applied, professors, should choose me – a guy who even barely speaks the Tajik language.
But later Covid-19 hit the World, and I was feeling okay not to make it, but again demotivated because I might never have the chance. We had no clue what the post-pandemic World will look like.
Again, it is going boring right?
Well, I was finishing 3rd year, and again Erasmus programs were restored – hooray, good news!!!
But the bad news is I was old enough not to fit the eligibility requirements and stopped expecting any more opportunities. This time I wasn’t disappointed or demotivated. Just stopped expecting, and resigned myself.
Be patient a little more …
On 2021 April, when I came late to class. My friend poked me and he was like “Buddy, did you check out the Instagram page of our university, there is an announcement that you may like.” I checked it, immediately. There was an opportunity for 3rd-year students to spend a semester at the beginning of 4th year in Bulgaria. Seems like, now, it is my time, but why Bulgaria?
Human-being is never satisfied, lol. Still filled out the form and submitted it.
Chosen! After that, we had interviews, visa processes, preparations for the semester, and trip adventures, which I don’t want to write about, to make it a little shorter. I remember how I counted my last times in Tajikistan.
We were 7 students. Arrived in Bulgaria, settled in Dobrich, and started studying at the Varna University of Management (Dobrich campus).
Assimilation was a bit hard in the beginning. But then we got to know the other students. We met students from every continent … maybe apart from Oceania.
Student life
It was quite enjoyable being a student in Europe. The struggle was low. We had pretty interesting subjects and debatable topics to discuss in class. It was a period of exploration, learning, and personal growth. We learned to think critically, solve problems and communicate effectively. Moreover, with the word “learning” I don’t only mean learning hypothesis in the University.
Nope, in Erasmus, you learn more outside the university than in classes. In general, the professors were highly skilled and the method of their teaching was awesome.
All the students lived in one big dormitory which made the connection a lot easier. We could always gather together and write group works, and assignments. We played, cooked, partied together, made memories, and just had fun. Just imagine, you live with all of your coursemates from all over the World together in one big Home.
Traveling
Yep, we arrived to the best part. Traveling is one of life’s greatest joys. We traveled as much as it was possible, explored new places, met new people, broadened our horizons, took cool pictures, and made a swashbuckling adventure.
So far with the Bulgarian national visa we could have traveled to 4 countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, and Cyprus. I had been to 3 of them excluding Cyprus. Additionally, we had a great chance to explore Istanbul together with European friends.
We experienced new national meals of each country, saw majestic places, drive through beautiful Balkan nature, made night-camping on the mountains, swam in the sea, danced, and had soulful conversations with people who have very different backgrounds.
Challenges
Of course, nothing in life goes smoothly. Maintaining every stuff you own, washing all your clothes, cleaning your room, cooking meals, and following rules that roommates make or force them to follow isn’t that easy. It was the first basic thing that Erasmus taught me. I always thought that these chores are gender roles, turns out, these were basic surviving skills that everyone must possess.
While studying I had some difficulties completing some tasks and writing assignments. Referencing everything you write and not plagiarizing was difficult for me. I am thankful for my groupmates and teachers who always helped me no matter what.
Cultural differences and misunderstandings sometimes make you homesick.
While traveling we experienced some language challenges. Speaking some mix of Russian-English did help us. But for our European friends, the Bulgarian language was a nightmare.
We had some trouble crossing the Greece border and failed to have a visa that allows us to open more countries, but let me just be silent about it.
The fun part is Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria are located next to each other and have a lot of history in common still, all three use different alphabets. One uses Latin, one uses Cyrillic and the other uses its own Greece alphabet. And the word “Ne” means “yes” in Greece language, means “No” in the Bulgarian language, and means “What?” in the Turkish language? WTH?
I think I am going deep for details … high time to open another topic
Friendship
Friendship is a powerful force. I found out that you can actually be very close friends with people who don’t belong to your group, don’t speak your language, don’t share your values, has different religion or race, and has different background. And this is fantastic!
After Erasmus, having foreign friends – feels like somewhere in other countries/continents/cities live your family, who are always in touch and always ready to host you whenever you go to their countries.
In the end, I would like to say that I spend exactly 4 months of Erasmus life, wrote just 0.1% of my experiences, and attached 0.0001% of photos. Erasmus was like lightning, started and finished very fast, but brightened our life for a short period. Experiences transform you into another human – a better human!
As my Erasmus program came to an end, I was filled with mixed emotions. I was sad to leave Bulgaria and the wonderful friends that I had made, but I was also grateful for the memories that I had created. I realized that the experience had taught me more about myself, and it had given me a new appreciation for cultural diversity and the power of shared experiences.
My Erasmus experience in Bulgaria was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will never forget. It taught me about the beauty of Bulgaria, its rich culture, and the kindness of its people. It also taught me that stepping out of my comfort zone and embracing new experiences can be life-changing. I returned home with a new perspective, new friendships, and memories that will last for a lifetime.
Summarize:
Erasmus taught me that:
- World is way bigger than my bubble.
- I know more languages than I thought.
- I can write a whole assignment without somebody’s help or the internet
- I can cook for myself and maintain my stuff
- Manage my money
- Cosmopolitan environment is another level of integration
- Traveling is the best teacher
- To value my own culture
Do you think I came to an end? You read about a pre-Erasmus story and don’t want to know about post-Erasmus life? I promise I will be brief.
Once I returned home, I realized that I got used not to seeing my family and friends. For 10 days I didn’t come out of home and all I did at home was scrolling the gallery of my phone. Leaving home was easier than returning home. I was not the same person who left. I stopped to complain about our country and society, rather started to value them. It is almost 2 years since I finished my Erasmus; I still can’t settle back into comfy, mono-cultural life. I feel empty always because all of my friends are now in different parts of the world and I can never experience the same life again anymore. Flashbacks of my memories come up at any time.
To the reader: Study hard, and take risks whenever you can. Make memories to tell for your grandkids. And just believe that WORLD is way huge than we think. Explore it. You must learn new things in any way, as much as you can at this period. Ex-Erasmus alumni are always ready to help. Or else you can find Erasmus groups on Facebook to get any advice or recommendations.
After all, I express my deepest gratitude to the IET TSUC professors who made everything possible. I will never ever regret my choice in 2018.
Благодаря много, че прочетохте историята ми!!!
Reach me:
FB | Sattorov Sukhrob
Linkedin | Sukhrob Sattorov
IG | @sookhrobs
e-mail | ssattorovs@mail.ru