Life in a Foreign University:

From a Haryana village to pursuing PhD in Poland, student shares how he evolved

this research, I found out that in Poland, you get a spend if you pursue PhD from a public university anddecidedtoapplythere.

Polandeducaonisunderrated I prepared my research proposal and sent it for acceptance to my current supervisor It was my first acceptance and I came to the barrierandafewmorequesons. My research topic and why I chose Poland

My PhD topic was research in Molkki or cross-regional marriages in Haryana and whether children born out of these marriages are accepted or not, and what is their identy. I could have done this boost to my communicaon and social skills. I am well-travelled and my mental health has improved as well. I have friends from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Spain, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

I got three more scholarships apart fromthespend.Theseareinternal scholarships provided by the university. I got an internal grant of Rs 1 lakh or 5000 in Polish currency at the end of my first year. I also got an award for best doctoral student and therefore my monthly spend was increased for nine months Now, I get close to 5000 Polish currency which is nearly Rs 1 lakh every month as a spend. The third scholarship is the STER programme under which I could go to any other university for mobility for a small duraon from 15 days to 3 or 4 months.

University of Wroclaw, Poland. My university is one of the 10 research universies in Poland and Wroclaw is the fourth largest city in the country.

All in all, Poland has good quality educaonatanaffordablefee.Ijust have to pay my applicaon fee and got a spend of Rs 50,000 which is goodenoughforoneperson.

My interview was held on September 13, 2021. They asked me basic quesons such as why do you want to pursue PhD in Poland, what was my background since it wasn't in Sociology and how do I jusfy that My topic was Indiaoriented so why I didn't pursue a PhD from India? There were quesons regarding the language re s e a rc h i n India but there I wouldn't get too many different perspecves and opinions as there are preconceived noons about Haryana and biases as well. The second reason I chose to study abroad is because of the exposureandthechancetoexplore placesoutsideIndia.

The classes are held only thrice a week mostly or four mes a week for bachelors, for PhD students it is onedayperweek

Difference between Poland and India

There has been a drasc change in my personality from the me I was in DU to where I am now. I have worked at different places and now whenIamhere,Imeetpeoplefrom all over the world. This has given a

We were also taught Polish in our first year, it is considered one of the toughest languages to master I havelearnedllA1level.

My biggest takeaway from my experience is that the world is big and not everyone gets an opportunity to come to Europe and live their dream. So live life to its fullest. I believe that whatever happens, happens for good and it is our responsibility to ulise whateverresourceswehave.