By Souad Daamouch, TUD

My name is Souad Daamouch and I am from the North-Est of France. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Pathophysiology and Personalized Medicine in Human Transplantation I had the great fortune to discover the FIDELIO program.

The process before coming to Dresden was exciting. We underwent several selection procedures, including a recruitment camp that took place in Rome, which is also called “the eternal city” and well known for “La dolce vita”. There, I met scientists from all over the world and above all, I was lucky to visit Rome before the COVID-19 crisis and all its restrictions!

Visiting Rome after the recruitment interviews (November 2019)

To be honest, before leaving France, I wasn’t really afraid about moving to Dresden because I had already studied far from home in the past and I knew that this opportunity was going to be like a new chapter for me. I have an adventurous spirit and I enjoy discovering. On the other hand, I did feel a bit apprehensive, which is quite normal when you start a part of your life in a place

you don’t know.

As a European citizen, the process of moving to Dresden was easier but the administrative part still took a long time. Despite all that, with my new colleague Lejla (from Denmark), we always try to make things more fun together.

In addition, I have been able to explore a beautiful city and breathtaking landscapes during my weekends of exploration thanks to the Dresden Welcome Center. I have been meeting people from a lot of different places and this is something that I especially appreciate: the fact of being in a cosmopolitan environment. I also learned to enjoy hiking, which is something I had never really done in my hometown before.

Now, I want to become a part of this country and to integrate into my new community as much as possible by being able to speak and understand the local language. This is why I started taking German classes with enthusiasm and I am regarding that as a personal challenge ;-)

 

Do you want to know more about my life as an EU researcher in Dresden? Follow me on twitter!