Letter from Laos – by Phennapha Xaiyasen

Hello,

my name is Phennapha Xaiyasen and I am 20 years old. I am a person who had a dream of studying abroad. As we know, foreign countries are modern and developing rapidly, so I wanted to experience everything by myself. When I was child, I loved watching movies and seeing their lifestyles, food, and festivals such as Easter and Christmas (I love Christmas). And one thing I liked about studying abroad was that students were not required to wear school uniform, they just choose what they want to wear, and I thought it would be nice if I could choose what I like to wear to University. And now my dream is coming true, but before it happened, I had to try very hard to practise my English. Sometimes I felt discouraged, but I always thought that if I wanted my dream to come true, I should not stop trying.

Thank you to the opportunity from Erasmus+ mobility programme between Karlsruhe University of Education  and Savannakhet University.  The Erasmus+ Mobility programme is open doors for you to explore, learn, and grow in Europe, allowing people from all over the world to meet, break down barriers, and foster collaboration between university. Here is more information about Karlsruhe University of Education or PH Karlsruhe

I study at Savannakhet University or SKU. I chose Savannakhet University because it has the major “Multimedia and Technology” I want to study and the university always provides new the opportunities for students. And my family also lives in Savannakhet Province. I study in the Bachelor’s Degree. I chose this major because I would like access to programmes and technology. My classes are actually about creating objects in the programmes, so we design posters and billboards, for example. From my perspective, this branch is interesting because when you graduate, you will have more opportunities to find a job in a company. But it also depends on your ability. Or you can be freelance. So I hope to have a chances to work in a company about product design or editing.

In addition, I am also passionate about English and singing. And I work part-time at a restaurant called “DaoHeuang Gastro“. As I said, I like to sing, so I sing at that restaurant for 1 hour or 2 hours, depending on the day. Here is my short audio so you can listen:

 

I am the eldest child. There are 4 people in my family, my parents, my brother, and me. On the weekends, I always go back to my house because the University is far from my village. Savannakhet to Nong Bua Thong, my village, is around 35  Kilometers. I usually help my parents work in the garden when I get home. My father grows cassava and sugarcane, which we grow to extract sugarcane juice for sale. In our garden, there are many Bamboo shoots, and my favorite menu is Gang Nor Mai, in English it is called Bamboo soup. Besides this, we also have a fish pond to make food as well.

 

The application process for my Erasmus+ Mobility to our German partner university was not complicated. Everything went according to the expected steps. I had a dream of going abroad, so I joined this programme together with Ms Chindavone Sisoulath. I am happy to be part of this programme and will study English and Computer Science in Karlsruhe for 5 months, I am very excited because the Karlsruhe University of Education or PH Karlsruhe is in Germany, a land of ideas. And I hope to have access to valuable learning resources in the subjects I want to study, and also concepts and life skills.

I welcome the opportunity to write my story on this blog, and I think it can help me improve my English skills. In addition to sharing my story, I am also happy to talk about my potential, my potential is singing as I said before because it is something I love and have been practising all along. And in my opinion writing this blog it not only about sharing my own story, but also inspiring other student-readers who have the similar goals or dreams to be inspired to achieve those goals, just like I have read the stories of other writers of inspiration here.

I prepared for my life abroad, such as researching the culture and way of life of Germany, including preparing visa, passport, health insurance and necessary documents, as well as what to bring and how to quickly adapt to the environment. And the main thing I prepared was English, whether it be chatting with foreign friends or listening to podcasts. I also tried to prepare my health for weather. In my opinion, it is very important because I need to get enough rest and exercise. If my body is healthy, I will be less likely to get sick when I go to a place which different weather condition.

My plan when I get to Germany is also to learn more about computers and also technology related to the field of study for instance Design, Database and Physical Computing, so I will not only study English with Prof. Martin but also Computer Science with Dr. Nico Hillah, who both came to my university in Savannakhet last year on their own Mobilities.

Apart from studying, I also plan to explore and visit tourist attractions and learn about German culture and way of life. In addition, I would like to try German Sausage and Pretzel because they are famous and have authentic German origins. What I am worried about is communication and how to adapt because this would be my first time traveling abroad.

Finally, I would like to say that I cannot wait to see Germany with my own eyes.

Germany, see you soon!

 

Text & photos by Phennapha Xaiyasen