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Taddesse, a master's student in embedded systems at the UT's Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Makelle University, about 700 km from his home in Addis Ababa. He came to the Netherlands in September after receiving a scholarship from the UT and says, `I have friends here who came with me from the same university, actually from the same department, electrical engineering, where we worked as graduate assistants for a year.'
Having friends around has helped him to adjust to life in the Netherlands as the culture is very different to what he is accustomed to. He says, `At first it was weird to walk into the kitchen and find somebody eating and not sharing. In Ethiopia, that's taboo. If you don't share your food, you would be a really bad person.' The biggest difference he has encountered other than the landscape and the weather is the sense of isolation. `Here you do things by yourself. In Ethiopia it's difficult to do that. It's very social. We argue about the bill, “I'm going to pay. No, no, I'm going to pay.” I miss those kinds of things, talking about anything, sharing everything. With friends there are no boundaries.'
Taddesse thinks not being able to communicate in Dutch makes it difficult to fit in, and he plans to take some language courses after the summer. His background in electrical engineering has meant he is obliged to complete a bridging course at the bachelor level. `Out of 80 students only two of us are international, which means the lectures have to be conducted in English. Sometimes students ask questions in Dutch, and the lecturer answers in English. It's kind of mixed, and Dutch is really hard to follow.' Besides English, the medium of instruction in Ethiopian secondary schools, Taddesse also speaks Amharic, which he calls the working language. He claims there are 60 to 70 different languages spoken in Ethiopia, only some of which are dialects.
Socially, Taddesse has attended a few parties, and he is eager to travel within Europe. He visited The Hague to attend the Day of the International Student event at the World Forum. He also traveled to Utrecht with the Erasmus Student Network and climbed the historic Dom tower. Commenting on the view from the tower, he says, `The landscape here is so flat, totally suitable to riding a bike.' Taddesse portrays Ethiopia as being full of highlands and says, `It's very beautiful.' Concerned about the image of Ethiopia among Europeans, he was quick to mention that his country is not just a place of drought and famine, and that only some regions experience a shortage of food. He spoke about the Blue Nile Falls and ancient archeological sites, and the historic buildings that accompany a country with the reputation of being one of the oldest countries in world. He describes the people as happy and welcoming, and says, `People are very religious. We are 50 percent Christians and 50 percent Muslims living together peacefully.'
Although he misses his family, especially his mother, Taddesse is not in a hurry to return to Ethiopia. He is passionate about his studies. `There is so much to be done in this field. Embedded Systems are changing so fast. I want to continue my studies, and do some research.' After completing his masters, this 22 year old, plans to investigate the opportunities for pursuing a doctorate in a technological discipline.
