'The war was in my country and it was awful, of course, but only one third of the country was affected, and nowadays going to the coast, to Zagreb or other interesting places, it's no problem at all. We have beautiful stony beaches, lots of islands and mountains to climb. And what I miss most are the millions of cafes you can find in Croatia. Maybe the first impression someone will have of my country is that no one works because people spend a lot of time just enjoying themselves in cafes. I really miss that. I miss the really good espresso I had back home and of course I miss the people that were around the espresso.'
But Monija also enjoys coming to Enschede. She came many times to visit her boyfriend Tom, who has been studying at the ITC for three years. 'Every time I came here I very much enjoyed being with people from all over the world, people from Africa, Latin America, some Europeans, lots of Asians, all together! It's a really a wonderful experience. I think Enschede must be very happy to have all these international students coming. This international component sheds a completely different light on life in Enschede. People are definitely the best thing here', said Monija.
But, as all foreigners know, adjusting to a new environment is not only fun. Monija explains from her own experience: 'I'm shocked with these X-rays foreigners have to take to be scanned for tuberculosis, it's an extremely underdeveloped method and it doesn't make sense at all. In Croatia I lived in a student's dorm and we were checked for tuberculosis once a year with a test reaction on the skin and the ones that were not resistant enough were given the vaccination, which makes more sense to me. In all my life the only X-rays I've had done were because I had some problems with my spine and here they will do it to me every six months.'
The adjustment to her new study also threw up something unexpected: 'It came as a shock when I realised that out of eight subjects, I have classmates in only one because that is the only one taught in English, in all the others I have personal classes with the teachers. Ireally miss having lectures and classmates to discuss matters with. For me that means a lot, I miss somebody to share ideas with.'
But the UT in general gave Monija a very good first impression: 'The UT campus was the first campus I've ever been to, in Croatia there are no campuses, so I thought it very nice and organised. But because I was used to the way things were done at the ITC I had some difficulty adjusting to the UT. There everything is smaller so you know everybody. And, everything is arranged for the international students, everything is in English.' She hopes that the UT will take a leaf out of ITC's book. 'Especially with regard to formal procedures because at the ITC students receive a lot of help to do the papers for the residence permit, they receive the instructions in English and the police go to the Institute. Even though the people from Communication Studies helped me a lot, those things were still very difficult for me.'
Monija Ivankovic
