Like every student in Bangladesh, we both had a dream to study abroad. Maybe it’s our luck or our God was so pleased with us that we got a chance to study in Europe at mid stage of our university life. Let us share our story about how we got a chance to study with the European Union’s Fully Funded Erasmus+ scholarship at Lodz University of Technology (TUL) in Poland and how was our experience there.
I am Al Foysal Tuhin, studying at the Department of Software Engineering, Daffodil International University (DIU), Bangladesh. Me and my friend from the same Department Tasnim Ara Shifa, we both received the Erasmus+ exchange scholarship from our beloved university, DIU at the beginning of 2022 to study at the same university in Poland for a semester. Since we both are from the same department, we started our journey together when the war of Russia-Ukraine was just started during Feb, 2022. It was a very hard decision for us and also our family to accept if we are going to Poland to study or not. But our ambition said no to all the problems and we decided to go for our dream.
At first, we saw an email from the International Affairs office of DIU to all students that there is an opportunity to study in Europe for a semester on Erasmus+ Scholarship. So, we applied for the scholarship, faced a few interviews and got passed on the interviews. Then, we needed to go for the Polish visa and for that we had to go to New Delhi, India. There was a lot of paperwork to do but thankfully International Affairs, DIU got our back here. They guided us through this process very well. We easily got my Polish visa from the Embassy of Poland, New Delhi. Then after getting the visa everything was just like a dream. We took our flight as soon as possible and went to Poland. We landed in Warsaw airport, took an Uber from there to the train station. From there we took a train for Lodz and from there our mentor picked us. As We entered the dorm, we knew a new way of living a life is coming. Being DIU students, we are so luck because lot of our Alumni are now studying or in a good position of the career globally and for that reason, we got one of our Alumni in Poland named Mr. Ahasanul Islam Hasan picked us from the airport, guided us to reach in our city, Lodz. In Lodz, our big sister & other alumni of DIU, Susmita Saha and her husband Rajesh Ghosh helped us there to get to know the campus, this unknown city & helped us by giving directions on how to live easily in the city. All of their unconditional love and care for us helped us to feel this new place as a new home to continue our study period in Poland.
From the very next day we went to our university in Poland and as soon as we went to the campus, we had goosebumps. We were living our dream for the very first time. The campus is so beautiful that we can’t describe it. In spring, there are lots of flowers inside the campus and a lot of lavender makes it even more astonishing. We started our study period and it was very hard for us as it was a European way of studying. But our teachers from there were really kind enough to give extra time for us to cope up. We were in a routine that made us more disciplined, self-dependent and focused. For the very first time in our life, we started buying our own groceries & cooking meals for us. We observed a new way of studying that was more practical than we were used to. We did 3 projects in 4 months and it was our first time doing something this large in a short period of time. We made a lot of friends from Turkiye, France, Portugal, Spain, Andorra & Poland.
As we were in Erasmus, there were a lot of parties and fun. We played flunkies, volleyball almost every weekend. We had parties every Tuesday and Saturday. There were also floor parties inside our dorm. We played songs, danced & had a lot of fun there. Our dorm was like a new home for us. We cooked together, ate together, played together and all. From there we went to Prague with our friends on a tour and it was awesome. We also had fun at the Piotrkowsa Street which is known as the longest street in Europe and luckily it was in Lodz. The city of Lodz is very nice and calm. Not so many people live here and it was very good for us because we love calmness. After evening the city becomes really peaceful and there won’t be many people in the street. I saw snowfall for the first time in my life at Lodz. It was really beautiful and I played with snowballs with my friends.
Summer at Lodz is really eye-catching. There are different types of flowers in the same ground at different times. The cherry blossoms were so beautiful that we couldn’t even imagine. We watched movies a lot because we also had so much free time there after the exams. We really love every moment we have spent there in Lodz being Erasmus exchange students from DIU, Bangladesh. It will always be one of the happiest periods of our life. We came back to our countries with a load of unforgettable lifetime memories.
We still can’t forget but are grateful to some people like our mentor from Poland, Kuba Lichawski, who picked us from Lodz station and also helped us during study. Last but not least we can’t express how much we are grateful to the International Affairs office and our Daffodil International University for giving us the chance to have this lifetime experience. Not many universities in Bangladesh think about the future of its students and share global opportunities, but our university DIU is continuously supporting students to grab the global opportunities to be global citizens. At least we are the appropriate examples. From DIU, now we are connected to over 450 foreign partner universities of over 65 countries where every year hundreds of students are getting opportunities to go for study abroad either as exchange or scholarship. We as students believe that other universities should follow DIU and do their best too.
Written by
Al Foysal Tuhin &Tasnim Ara Shifa
Students, Department of Software Engineering
Daffodil International University (DIU)
Bangladesh
