{"id":51399,"date":"2026-02-18T09:07:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T09:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/?p=51399"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:01:38","slug":"studying-abroad-awareness-vs-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/studying-abroad-awareness-vs-fantasy\/","title":{"rendered":"Studying abroad: awareness vs. fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands, Germany, France, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Spain\u2026<\/p>\n

You might think I\u2019m simply listing European Union countries. What I\u2019m actually listing are destinations where Moldovan students choose to pursue their studies. If we placed a pin on the map for every city where Moldovan students are studying today, Europe would be covered in colour. Although every year the number of students who decide to stay and study in Moldova grows, in many high school classes in the capital, more than half the students are not even considering the option\u00a0of studying\u00a0at home. They are ready to sacrifice their social circles, the comfort of family, and the emotional security of home to explore life abroad.<\/p>\n

Their reasons are valid and understandable: broader academic opportunities, access to international networks, exposure to diverse cultures, personal growth, independence, stepping out of their comfort zone and the promise of a brighter future.<\/p>\n

I was one of those students.<\/p>\n

For three years of high school, I dreamed about studying abroad. I wore\u00a0rose-tinted\u00a0glasses filled with expectations and idealised images of international student life. But those glasses cracked the moment I arrived in a small town in Germany for my studies. Reality did not match my expectations. I found myself overwhelmed by a reality I hadn\u2019t even thought about. Eventually, I made the difficult decision to return home and pursue my bachelor\u2019s degree in Moldova.<\/p>\n

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That experience taught me something essential: the fairy-tale version of university life we often tell teenagers should remain at the border. My journey would have looked completely different if someone had offered me an honest, unfiltered perspective: both the beautiful and the difficult sides of studying abroad. I would have left better prepared, grounded, and emotionally equipped.<\/p>\n

Out of this desire to offer young people clarity instead of illusion, the\u00a0podcast\u00a0\u2018Universitatea #diez\u2019<\/a>\u00a0was born. It aims to equip students with truth and realistic expectations before they take the leap into the \u201cbig world\u201d. It helps them\u00a0to\u00a0weigh their options carefully \u2013 whether to leave or to stay, and make a conscious, informed decision.<\/p>\n

Three years and 22 episodes later, the podcast has become a safe space for honest conversations. We discuss everything\u00a0that\u00a0students rarely see on university brochures: searching for accommodation, navigating course structures, managing workload, independent study expectations, part-time jobs, homesickness, food culture, budgeting, social integration, and the simple but sometimes challenging milestones of adulthood, like learning how to cook or use a washing machine for the first time.<\/p>\n

We speak openly about both the opportunities and the struggles. Because both exist.<\/p>\n

Among our guests was our dear Teodora Drucec, Young European Ambassadors\u2019\u00a0Coordinator for Moldova, who\u00a0shared her experience of studying in The Hague, the Netherlands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From this same desire to create honest dialogue, we also launched several editions of the event series \u201cStudies in the EU\u201d, organised in the framework\u00a0of the Young European Ambassadors initiative. During these meetings, we invite YEAs who are currently studying abroad, in Germany, France, Austria, Hungary and beyond, to share their experiences without filters. They answer questions, speak about cultural adjustment, financial realities, academic pressure, and opportunities that other countries offer to them.<\/p>\n

As a Young European Ambassador, I believe in peer learning and sharing. We are responsible to promote quality education and to help our peers make the right decision for them. To help them set real expectations. To be authentic and supportive.<\/p>\n

Whether students choose Moldova or another European country, the decision should be rooted in awareness, not fantasy.<\/p>\n

The post Studying abroad: awareness vs. fantasy<\/a> appeared first on EU NEIGHBOURS east<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands, Germany, France, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Spain\u2026 You might think I\u2019m simply listing European Union countries. What I\u2019m actually listing are destinations where Moldovan students choose to pursue their studies. If we placed a pin on the map for every city where Moldovan students are studying today, Europe would be covered in colour. Although every year the number of students who decide to stay and study in Moldova grows, in many high school classes in the capital, more than half the students are not even considering the option of studying at home. They are ready to sacrifice their social circles, the<\/p>\n

The post Studying abroad: awareness vs. fantasy<\/a> appeared first on EU NEIGHBOURS east<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"topic":[520,522],"class_list":["post-51399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-story","topic-education","topic-youth"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57195,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51399\/revisions\/57195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51399"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=51399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}