A costly faux pas and a chaotic year: My experience as the only foreign student in an all-Romanian class
It was early 2020 - a collectively chaotic year for everyone - and I had just spent three years after graduating high school "gap years," and allowed myself to step back from the hassle of classes and find out what I truly wanted to do…
It was early 2020 - a collectively chaotic year for everyone - and I had just spent three years after graduating high school "gap years," and allowed myself to step back from the hassle of classes and find out what I truly wanted to do with my personal goals and academic/career plans.
I was certain that I wanted to pursue journalism for its idealism and how it's the watchdog of democracy and peace when it's done right.
I remember that one evening in January, a friend of mine forwarded an announcement from the Romanian embassy in Jakarta about an annual, fully-funded scholarship from their Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The monthly financial aid may not be the best part (around RON 300 per month for bachelor students, which obviously isn't enough if you don't have other sources of income), but it grants free accommodation depending on the assigned university's policy and waives the tuition that can be super pricey for non-EU students - we're talking about EUR 250 to 400 a month, for example.
At first, I was (partially) skeptical about applying because of my slim-to-none geographic and cultural knowledge of Eastern Europe at the time, and the fact that it wasn't the most popular choice among Indonesian students who study abroad, like the UK, France, Germany, or the Netherlands, a country we shared colonialism history for over 300 years.
But I did it anyway, carpe diem. I gathered all the required documents - letter of motivation, future career plans, form, diploma, certificates, and anything that could make me stand out from the rest of the applicants. Back then, everything was still manual, so I had to sign all the paperwork and send them over to the embassy in person, whereas it's now accessible online on Study in Romania's government website every year from December/January to March.
"What could possibly go wrong?" I uttered to myself at the time.
We had two options to choose from, so I first opted for the University of Bucharest and Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, both in journalism studies. I did my research on almost every Romanian university that offers the degree that I wanted, and I figured both are among the top five universities in the country.
Months passed, and I thought nothing of it or felt sure that I would get that scholarship. I applied for a journalism degree at a university back home, and the plan was to take evening classes while I worked in the mornings.
Then, a few days after I'd finished all the necessary payments for the whole semester and rent, I got an email from the Romanian embassy in Jakarta that I got the scholarship and had 2x24 hours to confirm my place until they gave it to someone else.
