On a sweltering Melbourne evening, I was working on my most bizarre assignment in a lab while sipping hot coffee. I was a little preoccupied with the fact that I had been away from home for six months now , wanted to study and pursue my dreams of achieving better. I was incredibly motivated to succeed and overcome every obstacle in my students’ lives by the single objective.
I went back in time and found myself sitting in a cubicle of the last multinational corporation I had left in order to fulfill my lifelong dream of studying and moving overseas! With my 8-month-old daughter in tow, I made this decision in 2015 with the hopes that she would travel the world, attend the best universities, and live in the best possible environment with a group of wonderful people who would be her mentors and loving companions.
Living in a middle-class family without parental assistance while studying overseas in your mid-30s wasn’t easy! Pressure, anxiety, and the desire to succeed through hard work and commitment were added burdens. However, my determination forced me to persuade my in-laws; I thanked my husband and started along the path to this “dream” of mine.
I spent the first two months doing extensive research on topics like how to get into reputable universities, tuition costs, living expenses, student experiences, working while in school, living in a dorm, and more.
I first selected five different universities in California, Illinois, and Chicago for my “American Dreams.” I began studying for the GRE and TOFEL/IELTS while juggling my work, my 8-month-old daughter, and my entrance exams in accordance with her sleep schedule. After eight years in the workforce, it took me six months to rewire my brain to get back myself in student life. Finally, seven months later, the day of my GRE exam came. I felt like I couldn’t get out of bed because I had a temperature and a cold, and I was exhausted and had shaky legs.
Hope to succeed was the only moto that I could stand still with the shaky legs.
I attempted the exam and scored 295. For me, it was like winning the first battle to realize my goal! Unaware of the facts and data that would determine my fate, I was dreaming of flying to the United States when on the seventh flight.
I began writing my SOP – Statement of Purpose, which requires us to write an essay explaining the goal of the program in a way that aligns with our educational history and pertinent experience. I wrote it for five different universities. At first, it was a little challenging, but writing these SOPs was really helpful because I was rehearsing an essay for an English language test. I started applying online for computer science programs at all five colleges after taking my English test, getting a respectable score, finishing my SOPs, and preparing all of my applications. The countdown then started, with the hope to get into at least one university!
April of 2016 was the month. I began eagerly monitoring my emails when the majority of US universities began taking applications for Fall (winter, which begins in September and ends in December). Additionally, I received an email from California State University claiming that my application was denied since I did not meet the requirements because of my diverse engineering background. The first rejection! I could still get by with a lot of patience. Due to my low GRE score, I eventually received a second rejection from the University of Illinois. A score of 310 was selected to close the application. Similarly, I was rejected five times, either because of my educational background or because of my GRE results.
I was devastated! 11 months of my efforts, hard work lapsed. I was broken. I lost confidence; I was so terribly shattered that I felt like that was the end of the world! As though I was unaware that the world outside of “American dreams” exists. Unlike in the US, there are plenty of chances waiting for you to provide you a better education without making a conditional offer.
My husband pitched in to motivate me and to boost my confidence. I was not ready to get immediately into a job; my inner voice was constantly nagging me to try hard for different countries. I received a call from my counsellor for Australian universities. She told me that universities in Sydney and Melbourne do not ask for GRE rank, and I only had to pass the English language test, which I already had. Without a second thought, I applied and got admission to LaTrobe University, Melbourne, and the one in Sydney.
I chose the first one due to less living cost of Melbourne. While I was working on my application, I haven’t forgotten the cost estimation of total expenses; (for which I had to mortgage my flat where I used to live with my husband and daughter). After great efforts I got my loan approved, and I flew to Australia on 10-Feb 2017.
At the end of the day, nobody sees your efforts and struggle they only see your victory and feel envy about your fortune!
I landed in Melbourne, and I saw the Taxi I had booked couldn’t reach the airport due to a technical issue. I managed to reach my Uni-lodge (The Hostel) and there I saw the place was absolutely deserted. A building was surrounded by a lawn and looked like ‘Haveli’. I was clueless about “How to enter a building”. There were two buildings Uni-lodge A and Until-lodge B. I was at the entrance door of building A, I rang the bell nobody came out because that was the end of the semester, and very few people were in. In the premises of Uni-lodge, there would be a patrolling of Latrobe securities and I found one watching me. I took help from him and showed him my booking. Later he called a lady security guard and asked me to move to building B. And I got my room – B105.
I haven’t had jet lag. I was excited to see the entire Latrobe. So, I requested her (a guard) to take me with her. She smiled and became my first friend in Latrobe. We spent around 2-3 hours together; she made me comfortable by offering coffee in her office and dropped me back at the Uni-Lodge. It was so amazing start of my dream of ‘studying in abroad! ‘
LaTrobe had a very systematic learning system that gives unbiased treatment to every hardworking and sincere student. Being one of the cross-culture universities, we have had different communities, which used to celebrate every festival including Diwali, Ganeshostav, Pongal, Chinees New Year, Pohela Baisakh of Bangladesh, Durga Puja, Independence Day of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, new year, Christmas etc.
The library was the heart of the university, and it was huge, every level had a separate zone: talk level, quiet (study) level, Silent level; once you are in a quiet zone, you must shut your mouth unless you are back in a talk zone. Apart from the academic books, there were variety of generic books, and some of them were on Indian mythology – Valmiki Ramayan, Mahabharat, and all Vedas. But the trickiest thing was finding them at the right time.
The online library management system (LMS) would give us an accurate shelf and book number, once we know the title of the book or at least a topic on which we are searching a book, and enter it in the LMS search bar, the system will give ‘n’ number of books in a respective bookshelf. But off-course the system will work only for enrolled students. Later, during the examination, a library will turn into a mini hostel where students will be settled and turn those compartments into small rooms.
Agora is where we celebrate our student life. The festivals, get-togethers, food, and beverages; It’s like a cuisine hub, where we get almost all food varieties ranging from $1 to $25.
My First semester was havoc. Load and loads of study! Lectures, assignments, tuts, online quizzes, exams, and thus no life! However, that was a new learning phase with a brand-new education style with highly qualified and veteran professors.
वर्तयत्यन्यजनं प्रमादतः स्वयं च निष्पापपथे प्रवर्तते । गुणाति तत्त्वं हितमिच्छुरंगिनाम् शिवार्थिनां यः स गुरु र्निगद्यते ॥
भावार्थ :
जो दूसरों को प्रमाद करने से रोकते हैं, स्वयं निष्पाप रास्ते से चलते हैं, हित और कल्याण की कामना रखनेवाले को तत्त्वबोध करते हैं, उन्हें गुरु कहते हैं ।Sanskrit Shloka
My Java professor, Richard, was around 80 years in age and had a skin cancer. However, he was still so charming and extremely dedicated to his profession that nobody would disagree that he was one of the oldest and valuable assets of the university. His passion for java, and teaching it to his students, was an exceptionally inspiring and motivating to the other staff and students themselves.
For me Java being my favourite language, I was very keen in learning it with 200% dedication, and Richard, was amazed to find it out that one of his students are taking so much interest in his subject, soon became my cool oldy buddy, especially when he got to know that I have had 100/100 in most of the assignments and practicals.
Unlike Java, my Math skills were so terrible, that despite my engineering background, I couldn’t recall and solve many assignments on my own! Thanks to my bestie Rudri, a fulltime lecturer in India and a tutor in Latrobe. She helped a lot to make most of my maths concept clear.
Besides I had one of my second favourite subjects, Big Data Analytics. It was splendid experience of collecting real-time data of all social media websites including Facebook and Twitter, to check the number of users in and around the globe; finding out the real and fake profiles, segregate them and reporting it to the management. However, it was heck lot of hard work just to understand and fire one appropriate query to run the script and gather all the information! I have spent most of my life (meant a student life here) in lab, solving these crucial assignments.
I sometimes wonder was it ever possible for me alone to experience such expensive, and world-class education that for most of the crowd it is just a dream, without my unbeatable efforts and support from my family!
It’s worth not to compromise your ambitions while taking care of your family. It is not wrong to have it all in one life! You can earn and learn, when I say earn means literally earning money and supporting our own education, dreams, and ambitions.
It’s nothing wrong to have it all in one life, either you will win or learn lessons! But what important is keep going.