TLDR: Talked to someone in Reddit, found out which uni she was from, applied, accepted, departed.
It all started when I read a thread about female empowerment in r/perempuan, in relation with celebration of Kartini Day in April 2020. The OP was a woman who has been living nomadically for years. I remember feeling so excited reading the thread and eventually left a comment, saying that she inspired me to dig up my old dream to study abroad. She was really kind and invited me to DM her for further questions. And I did! I remember sending at least 10 points of questions for a few times, asking about her journey, even the petty stuffs such as how she managed the logistics and accommodation between places. Let’s call her NH (N, if you’re reading this, you ROCK ahahaha).
She mentioned that she did look for university in small towns because she was fed up with living in big cities. That idea immediately stroke me and I tried to look for universities in the city that she mentioned. Luckily, the admission was still open, and the registration process also included scholarship application. The requirements were pretty simple: motivation letter, academic transcript, and an English language certification (minimum B2). I understand that the certification required was at least TOEFL or IELTS, which I didn’t have at the time. So, I rocked up by googling “English B2 certification”, found an EF website which offered free online exam and a certificate in pdf. I used that certificate for registration, thinking “well, let’s see”. Upon registration, I received an email for interview on 30 June 2020.
I need to mention that my process to look for universities abroad was pretty late. I did it in end of April until end of May 2020, while most registration period usually started in December and ended in March. Not to mention my lack of preparation. So, my options were very limited. I remember doing registration to only 4 universities: Unicas, Uni Tor Vergata Rome, Unimi, and Univpm. The first two universities accepted me without further exam or interview, but I had to find my own funding, which was either independently or through regional scholarship (i’ll talk about this later). Unimi and Univpm required interview. I remember asking NH about tips for interview and also browsing about questions that might come up. Surprisingly, the interview was really short, like less than 15 minutes I think. So, of course I didn’t hope much, thinking that it went short because they have decided that they didn’t want me. One week after that, I had interview with Unimi. I know that this is a prestigious university, so other than school interview questions, I also read a bit about the study subjects. I screwed this one because I had a sudden meeting in my office, so I had to reschedule the interview. Moreover, my response to interview questions wasn’t convincing. The professor asked technical questions and some motivational ones. I know I screwed up, so I wasn’t surprised when I received the rejection email. I expected it, but yeah I’d be lying if I say that didn’t hurt haha.
Two weeks after interview with Univpm, I received the acceptance letter, along with the confirmation of scholarship. Within two days, I started arranging the required documentations for study visa. Dealing with Indonesian authorities is pretty tiring in normal days, and at that time I had to do it in the middle of many limitations because of Covid-19. So what normally takes 1 month was extended to more or less 3.5 months. I started the process on 15 July 2020 and received my study visa on 7 November 2020.
The academic year started on 28 September 2020 but because of the Covid-19 situation they allowed us to attend online classes and come to Italy only when it’s possible. I resigned from my office on 31 October 2020 and came to Italy on 29 November 2020. Of course I could come later because online classes were still going for the whole semester. However, I was worried that they would blacklist Indonesia for all visa types, because at that time they only allowed visa for students. So, finally I spent the last month of 2020 in Italy.
Adapting and coping with new environment of course take another story. Non è sempre arcobaleno, ma quella è la vita, amore :)
