To illustrate this statement, I successfully submitted the study abroad application for the Aarhus University Exchange Program minutes before the due date and gathered all the application requirements in less than 3 hours. Before coming to Denmark, the whole world seemed to be conspiring against me, and I will explain why. There are tons of things to get together (documentation, applications, documents and more documents) before leaving your residence country. First, I had to apply to the University to receive a confirmation of nomination or “acceptance letter” so that I could then apply for housing, the Danish residence permit for students, and thus get my “CPR number” which is the “Danish SSN”. Back to the letter of acceptance: the Aarhus University application form always asks for a contact to confirm you have been nominated as a student to participate in their exchange program or something like that where you list the name of the Assistant Director of Study Abroad: Brian Poepsel, but instead, I wrote Bryan Hill, the International Director in the Engineering College. For that reason, my letter of acceptance got delayed so I had to wait 3x more than my other study-abroad-mates to receive every document I listed before.
Once I got my letter of acceptance (years later), I immediately started my application for the Danish residence permit which is an “in person” application, and it’s located only at some of the biggest cities of the US. The closest to Arkansas is located at Houston, Texas, so I got my appointment there somewhere between the first weeks of July. The day of the appointment came, I was sitting there in the waiting area since really early in the morning, it was past noon when they called my name; I went in and guess what? The biometric system broke, and they told the rest of the group (including myself) that if they didn't get it fixed before their closing hour which was at 4 pm, we would have to come on another day. That also implied that I had to pay another $100 to get a new appointment, and a $300 roundtrip flight ticket because I didn’t know anyone from Arkansas or Texas that could offer me transportation. I was so discouraged by then; at that moment, El Padre Nuestro was my only option so I started praying. They called my name like three times to get my biometrics done with none of them being a success. My patience was at its limits until I heard my name one more time, I went in, fingers crossed and wallaaaah! It worked and I could finish all the process to get the residence permit document.
Minutes before departing to Fayetteville, Arkansas, I dropped my phone and the screen went dark. I couldn't see anything, I started receiving calls, text messages, etc., but I was not able to see any of it. At that point, I was so used to all the bad things happening at the same time, that I just turned off my phone and slept through the whole trip. I managed to talk to a stranger who was sitting next to me, told him what happened and borrowed his phone so that I could contact my friend who was picking me up and taking me home. Back in Fayetteville, three days had passed, and I still had no cell phone. I did not want to spend money on a new phone since I had more priorities at that moment (the study abroad money), so I just got it fixed. After I got it, I called my mom, talked to her for an hour or so, told her what happened almost crying.
Yes! Life is tough, the things you want the most are the hardest to get, and when one doesn’t get these things, we start to feel bad, have negative thoughts which let us feel even worse. For what? Everything comes back to place at its own timing, and if one works hard, greatest rewards start to show as we go on.
--Yes! Life is tough, the things you want the most are the hardest to get, and when one doesn’t get these things, we start to feel bad, have negative thoughts which let us feel even worse. For what? Everything comes back to place at its own timing, and if one works hard, greatest rewards start to show as we go on.
 |
| Aarhus, Denmark: Apartment Backyard |
Electrical Engineering major Arantxa Morales is spending the Fall 2018 semester in Denmark with our U of A Exchange program at Aarhus University.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
