When I first started researching colleges abroad, and I finally selected Germany, curious relatives were constantly on with the questions. How long will you be studying there? When will you come back? Are there even good jobs there for Pakistanis? At that time, obviously, I didn’t have the correct answers to these questions, but I knew I wanted more.
More opportunities, more learning, more freedom to grow and build my life. And Germany, with its excellent universities and affordable education, seemed like the perfect place to start. Now, after two years of hard work, cold winters, and navigating life in a foreign land, one dream keeps me going: getting a good job here and building a life.
It’s not an easy path. The competition is intense. Every internship and every program is flooded with applicants, and many of the native Germans or EU citizens with fluent language skills have connections and, therefore, are more likely to get into it. I’ve spent weeks tweaking my resume, rewriting cover letters and attending online workshops on how to crack the German job market. The language is another challenge. While many companies work in English, daily life still runs in German. You want to feel like you belong, not just survive. So now I juggle between mastering Python and learning German grammar.
And there is always that little voice in the back of my head: “Will they hire me? Will I be seen as an outsider forever?”. It’s something you keep thinking about a lot, especially as a Pakistani with a Muslim background. But I know that every small success, a positive reply, a good interview, and an encouraging mentor keeps the hope alive. I dream of a future where I can walk into an office in Berlin or Munich, contribute to a team, and build something meaningful. Where I can invite my parents to visit and proudly show them my life, my apartment, my work, my community here.
And maybe, finally, one day, I will not have to worry about Visa extensions or what is next. Just the comfort of knowing I’ve made a life here for myself, in a foreign country, is enough to keep me going.
For the time being, I’m studying, applying, improving myself, and dreaming. Because, like many of us here, I didn’t come this far just for a degree; I came to build a future.