I remember it well, in the middle of March 2021. For one and a half years I had the wish and hope to go to Thailand for the last part of my study ‘Sports Management’. This last part involves taking a ‘minor’. For those readers who are not familiar with this term: My Bachelor’s degree is ‘Sports Management’. This is the main subject of the program. In addition, you are required (for 30 European Credit Transfer System, or ECTS) to take a minor of 5 months. This course can be taken at all universities in the Netherlands (or abroad) and can cover all different subjects. Totally what you, as a student, want. So, that was the educational part of this blog, now back to where I left off…
Oh yes, for this minor I would be taking a semester at Siam University, Thailand. In the summer of 2020, I had to cancel this two weeks before leaving, together with a fellow student. We had already gone to Suriname together in 2019, and were hopeful that this trip was also feasible. Nothing was further from the truth. The Corona figures in the Netherlands went the wrong way after the “Intelligent Lockdown,” as Mr. Rutte and Mr. De Jonge called it, which lasted from March 2020 to May 2020.
But back to the point, just before leaving we had to draw a line in the sand. I have to tell you honestly, I very much expanded my dictionary of swear words that night. Because I was really mad, but mad on who or what? I had no clue what my next step should be. But after a matter of time, I was confident that the following year I would enjoy being an international student, among international students.
I explained my whole situation to my mentor at the time. He was supportive of my trip, he understood my choice and wanted to do everything he could to help me be able to go next year. Oh yeah, I’ve been talking in the I-form for a while now because my fellow student had found a minor in the Netherlands that fit his wants and needs. I hadn’t found one (to be honest, I wasn’t looking very hard either) and decided to do everything in my power to be able to go to Thailand in 2021 and follow my dreams. Through my agency I was able to move my registration at the university to 2021. Apartment and flight ticket were (fortunately) not yet booked, so those were no problem.
The last year of my Bachelor consists for half of following a minor, and for the other half of a graduation assignment. But now comes the clue… you can only graduate when you have all the ECTS credits, including the minor credits. Fortunately, I received permission through my university to graduate without the minor points, with the justification that I was unable to do this minor due to force majeure. I finished the thesis with a steady 7 and a proudly presented strategic marketing plan for my internship organization. During this time, I spent much of it preparing for “my journey.” In April, for my birthday, I received a leather travel bag from my parents and an adventurelog from my friends. For which I am still very grateful to them. This indicated that my family and friends (who knew about my plan) support me in my adventure. In addition, it is also pretty lame to get these gifts, and then say: “Thanks, but I’m not going anymore, I think it’s boring to go”.
In May I booked the return flight from Frankfurt am Main. Via Hipflat I found a nice ‘condo’ for four months, after which I will travel through Thailand for another month. After booking all this, it was mainly a matter of waiting….
