To leave your family and shift to another country at 18 years of age is one of the most challenging things one must do in life: new people, new language, new culture, new rules. You must be more responsible than ever and immediately take care of stuff you didn’t even know existed before; you have barely breathed in the air that you get hit with reality.
Personally, that is precisely what I needed. I moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, from New Delhi, India, in February 2019, to pursue my studies in hospitality management, and it has been life changing.
At first, it was hard to do all the household chores, clean my room, and my clothes, cook for myself, laundry (which I think was the worst amongst all), pay bills and work part-time. Studying abroad hasn’t just helped me become more independent, it has also taught me how to live with others, create boundaries and get to know myself better.
To be in a completely different environment, miles away from home, forced me to be alone with myself and thus gave me a chance to introspect, along with an opportunity to reinvent myself. I found achievement in the smallest things such as putting my clothes in the hanger rather than throwing them on the chair.
We usually refuse to change mostly because our environment doesn’t allow us to. Even now, when I return to India, I fall back into my old habits. I lack the motivation to do things on my own and go back to being a kid.
Even if it is difficult to be away from family, it is exactly what I needed to step out of my comfort zone and truly grow. It is in the new and unknown environment of Lausanne that I learned the most about myself and others.
The world in your oyster
To study in Switzerland is to study in a magnificent country that is also conveniently located, amongst Germany, Italy, France, Portugal and even Spain. These are some countries one can travel to over for a long weekend.
This summer, I went for Oktoberfest to Munich, covered Prague, Vienna and Budapest in under five days. I also traveled the northern part of Italy, and a few villages in the Italian region of Switzerland by train spending very little. Most of my expenses were funded by the extra work I did during last semester.
Apart from that, and most importantly, the country holds among the best educational institutions. One of them is the EHL Hospitality Business School, a nearly 130-year-old university. While studying here, I learnt both theory and practice, and got plenty of opportunities to meet other students and learn from other cultures. I had the chance to be several of the over 30 committees and associations, which range from wine tasting to sailing. Currently, I represent the Southeast Asian community at EHL.
Exploring new horizons
Studying in a multi-cultural education institute also opened my minds to newer ideas. Since we are more than 127 nationalities on campus, we are all always learning about each other’s cultures, understanding how people may be so similar in personalities, different in behavior, and even from opposite sides of the world, yet coming together for the common goal of education.
If I had to sum things up as a hospitality student, I would say that I grew more than I thought was possible in a small period of time. I learned humility, how to be sensitive to other cultures, and how to motivate myself every morning to shave, shower and look presentable.
I believe there comes a time in every person’s life when they need to get out of the house and try living on their own; face the challenges that come with the freedom. Explore new cultures, inculcate the best parts of their culture into your own, decide what values you want to follow, and most importantly, how you want to live your life. Do what you like, how you like it, when you like it, because you have the freedom to do so.
