Voices from Abroad: Francesca Riva

Maastricht (The Netherlands), Freemover Semester, Maastricht University
Sydney (Australia), Campus Abroad and International Internship, import food company

Shanghai, past and future, old and new

Shanghai (China), Double Degree DDIM,FudanUniversity

Do not lose the chance to grow within the world
-To all the people met around the world-

I was asked to write something about my experiences abroad. Well, I am here, trying to collect my thoughts to get the right inspiration to express in words the influence that all these experiences had on me. I am still here, realizing that it is anything but easy.

My memories start jumping from the Free Mover done in Maastricht to the Campus Abroad in Sydney, then to the one year in China as a DDIM student and finally to the Summer Internship in Australia. Now, a big smile is on my face: "Here it is, the incredible power of such experiences," I guess.

Beneath each individual experience there is an entire world made of emotions, friendships, fears, colors and music that is hard to plainly describe. Every culture encountered, every face, every person met and place seen is ineradicably part of you; lenses shaping your perception of life. Every time you go abroad, the lenses evolve, becoming sharper and additionally meaningful.

China, working under the rain

Four different experiences. Four essential foundations of my personal growth, synthetically four parts of what I am now. And each of them, noteworthy.

Maastricht was the necessary launch pad in 2006. It was the newness where I knew the beauty to live in a multicultural and stimulating environment. It is a typical Dutch university city, with everything you need just a push on the pedals away. The University is highly technological and the teaching methodology is distinctive: small class groups supported by a tutor where the students are responsible for the daily discussion.

Sydney has been my love. The first time I went was during Campus Abroad (2007). I literally felt in love with that part of the hemisphere. Its unique lifestyle is exactly in tune with my personality and made me feel immediately at home. The right place to live, I thought. For this reason, in 2008, after the year spent in China as a DDIM student, I took my flight Shanghai-Sydney to attend the Summer Internship I found through the Bocconi's International Relations Office. I wanted to test, in a different situation, the truth of the first feeling I had. It was exactly the same and now I jokingly say that both the Campus and the Internship drew my future. In fact, after the graduation, if everything goes right, I will move to work and live there.

China, tradition

Shanghai is simply indescribable. One year flew by as if it were one day. From September 2007 to July 2008 without coming back home. Not once. "Living in China is not an easy walk" someone could think. "An incredible dash into life" I answer. The best period of my life, a perfect combination of places and right people. Shanghai is pure dynamism. It is impossible to get bored. The word "routine" does not exist. It is converted in: "What is going to happen today?" Every normality becomes a funny adventure. This is amazing for me. I am not saying that it is "a magic world without difficulties." There are, especially since you are confronting a culture that is diametrically opposite from the one in which you grew up. Just remember that changing your perspective and what had the power to make you crazy, comes back again to be unique or at least a funny episode you will never forget. When I think about that time I feel the power of life. Curiosity was the driver of this experience. The desire to taste the world was the engine for all the trips made: Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, South Korea, India. The friendships born in that period were the most beautiful prize received!

Having all these kinds of experiences lets you play, makes you breathe the diversity of the world, puts you in the right perspective, unmasks aspects of your character that you did not even think you had. Living abroad is growth, organizing your life day by day, learning to deal with the unforeseen. Travelling is receiving a big smile as a gift from someone who has only that to give to you, it is sleeping somewhere, it is discovering the beauty of the world with your friends. Well, is this not enough to pack and go? Take every chance you get to go abroad, enjoy it and you will understand that studying is important, but that there are more satisfactions than just a grade. This is my advice.