by : Miftahul Hidayah
If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough!
– Ellen Johnson Sirleaf–
Thank God I say for the unrelenting favor God poured out in my life. One of the greatest favors God gives is the opportunity to study abroad and be part of one of the best campuses in the world, Monash University. A dream that God finally gave through the prayers of his loved ones.
The desire to study abroad has been felt since i was in college. During my studies I participated in several student exchange selections as well as overseas scholarships such as IELSP and Monbusho. Many times sending applications for scholarships and many times also got word of not graduating is sad, but it did not break my spirit to keep trying other scholarships. After graduation in October 2013, I started looking for a scholarship for S2. At that time I heard that one of the seniors from Minang managed to get an LDPD scholarship for s2 in Korea. This news became one of the encouragement that finally made me decide to apply for an LPDP scholarship.
In December 2013, I was declared to have passed an LPDP scholarship interview and this is where the struggle to get up to college in the country began to feel. The struggle to get the IELTS grades required by an overseas university was the toughest struggle that made me almost give up. February 1, 2014 was the first IELTS test I attended and it turned out that the results were still below target, as a result I was unable to apply to the University of Turku in Finland which was the original destination university when applying for lpdp first. In mid-July, I took the IELTS test again after taking an IELST course in The English Village of Pare for two weeks. However, the result has not yet reached taget. I almost gave up that time and intend to enroll in another University that doesn’t have to use IELTS. But thanks to the support of family and friends, in mid-September I ventured to take the IELTS test for the third time and Alhamdulillah finally achieved my IELTS score.
Why choose Monash University? I often get this question. Many of the reasons that ultimately led me decided to choose Monash, one of which was because Monash had a very good reputation for education. In 2014, Monash was ranked sixth in the world for educational majors in the QS World University Ranking. In addition, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to hear about learning abroad, especially in Australia from Mr Turmudi. These chats were also one of the motivations for me to continue my education to Australia.
I’m sure many of us have a desire to go abroad. The desire of God can be realized, especially with the increasing number of scholarships provided by the Indonesian government. Daring to dream big and ready to fatigue to fight for it are two keys that are at least a must-have. To get something big, of course it takes a lot of effort. Getting a scholarship and being accepted to an overseas university is not the end of the struggle, but rather the beginning of a new struggle.
Tired, the sweetness of life feels after tiredness of fighting
-Imam Al-Shafi’i–