Ayaulym Sarybayeva, Kazakhstan: South European Studies (EUROSUD)

Where is your home? The Life of an Academic Nomad.

It is hard for me to explain where I live now. I call myself 'Ayasha Worldwide'. It all started when I was nominated for an Erasmus Mundus scholarship to study in the South European Studies programme a year ago. I spent my first semester at the University of Glasgow, now I am at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and next semester I will go to the University of Aix-Marseille on a professional path.

Becoming an Erasmus Mundus student gave me the opportunity to challenge myself. Every semester, moving to a new country with a completely different education system and culture, I have become a real ‘worldwide’ citizen. An achievement was understanding the Scottish accent and then the instantaneous switching from Spanish to French. All jokes aside, another skill I didn't know I had was the ability to write multiple essays at the same time while staying up in the library until midnight.

In addition, I got the chance to discover professional opportunities. In December, I started my first internship at the University of Glasgow as an Erasmus Mundus Promotion and Social Media Officer. I am committed to sharing my knowledge and the experience gained in my academic and professional life with others, and I lead a personal blog to inspire the younger generation to reach their potential.

Being an academic nomad means I keep a piece of every country where I live in my heart and personality.

Where is my house? Well, being an academic nomad means I keep a piece of every country where I live in my heart and personality. Therefore, I understand that I will never be the same and will be more open to looking at the world from a different angle. I'm excited to see what the future holds for me and explore other hidden parts of the Earth to support the "Worldwide" lifestyle.

And for my readers: Travel, Explore, Learn and stay Curious. The world is much smaller and cozier when we have mutual respect and understanding.

This article was written by Ayaulym (Ayasha) Sarybayeva and published on the Erasmus Mundus Association (EMA) website: https://www.em-a.eu/post/ayaulym-sarybayeva-kazakhstan-south-european-studies-eurosud