Read a story of a brave young lady Frilly Andrelia Utami, who has gone through hard life time during and after the tsunami in Palu, Indonesia in 2018. Our Faculty gave her an opportunity to stundy in Czech Republic for 6 months.
And here is her story:
"My name is Frilly Andrelia Utami and I am a student from Tadulako University in Palu, Indonesia. I am in my last year of studying Economics and Development. On September 28th 2019, an earthquake and tsunami struck the city where I live in and areas surrounding it. The disasters devastated the city and the lives of thousands even until this day. Many were left homeless and dependent on aids. Around 2000 people died, 5000 missing, and even more injured.
That’s why I couldn’t be even more grateful when my home university announced that the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague (CZU) is offering an scholarship opportunity for a student for one semester. I was even more excited to know that CZU has an International Development and Agricultural Economics department, with courses such as Rural Development and Project Evaluation. I applied to the program and was very lucky to get selected.
Although making the decision to leave my family 5 months after the disasters was hard, I don’t regret taking the chance. I have learned so much during my time here in CZU. The opportunity to study here has helped me grow both as a student and as an individual. The academic system and curriculum gave me a chance to analyze further economical and development concepts with agriculture and rural scope in mind, which were lacking from my previous study in my home university. Furthermore, the diversity of students made classroom discussions to be very insightful, with a lot of different perspectives that would not be otherwise discussed with the lack of diversity. It is truly an enriching experience, especially many of the students and teachers are equipped with diverse experience in different development projects in different countries, making discussions not only academical but also practical.
My time in CZU, though short, was enough to motivate me to pursue development study even further. It helped me to navigate paths I want to take after a very traumatic event that left me feeling quite helpless for some time. Now, I have more confident in pursuing what I consider as my purpose. Coming back to Indonesia, I am planning to finish my current bachelor study and hope to pursue master’s degree in development in CZU, in hope that I can also make a difference in lives of, if not many, some people, like I know my colleagues in CZU have done."
