“There are no borders, no differences. There is just us.”
Milena Kotvickaya travelled to Rønde Højskole from Moldova. Now, she is studying Danish and working in Copenhagen.
It was not an easy decision for Milena to move so far away from home. But her big dreams of studying in a Scandinavian university was a driving force. She decided to pack up and go to Denmark.
“Before I made the most difficult and wonderful decision in my life, which was moving abroad, my dream was studying at the university. I chose Rønde Højskole because there were so many subjects available to me, allowing me to try new things and practice old ones. I am a bookworm, and I often romanticize things, but at Rønde Højskole, I got that vibe: It was so unique and cozy. And of course, there were lots of fun parties and beautiful trips. But for me as an international student, it was important that I could learn the language. I had a lot of practice – it is the most important thing if you want to integrate into a new society.”
Dream big, work hard
Integrating into a new society was exactly what Milena had hoped to do. She found that her stay in Rønde made it a lot easier to fit in.
“It was a direct result from my semester at Rønde that I got used to a new country so easily. And I’m still here! Moreover, I met wonderful people from around the world. And that is when I realized: there are no borders, no differences. There is just us. A group of people with different life stories and various reasons to be here, but who found support in each other. So my dreams came true, and the most important thing that I understood is that if you dream big and work hard, all your desires would come true.”
“It was a direct result from my semester at Rønde that I got used to a new country so easily. And I’m still here! Moreover, I met wonderful people from around the world.”
Home away from home
Something that surprised Milena was how much she ended up liking living with a bunch of other students – something she had been a bit nervous about before starting at the school.
“It is actually the most precious thing that I got from living at the school! I found out how much I actually am a sociable person and how much I love to study, to learn something new. I didn’t notice this before. I realized that languages are easy for me, I sing, I have a talent for drawing, my teachers became my mentors and these friendships could survive thousands of kilometers. My home is far away from there, but it really felt like home.”
