Mayada Khaled Fahmy Ghoneim - Bachelor Student From Egypt
Yana Immis
How did Mayada feel moving to Germany? She was only 18 years old and she had to take care of everything herself. “Do mistakes! And learn from them”, - she says. Agree? Learn her story here!
| Place of Birth | Cairo, Egypt |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Where did you live? | Cairo (Egypt) |
| Education Level Prior to Relocation | Secondary School |
| Reason of moving to Germany | Bachelor Program |
| When did you move? | 2015 |
| How old were you? | 18 |
| Are you still in Germany? | Yes |
| What is your future goal? | Master Degree or full-time job |
| Would you like to stay in Germany? | Not sure, time will show |
Chapter 1: The Good Old Mayada In The Past
Here is how it all started: one lovely sunny day (typical in Egypt), my parents by luck found information about a German university fair in an Egyptian newspaper.
I was in my IGCSE exams and I decided to visit this event.
I started considering education abroad, especially in Europe because private education in Egypt is not much less expensive, sometimes even more expensive if we talk about education in British Pounds terms.
I was accepted in Croatia and Hungary already and I considered Latvia. I love the United Kingdom, I adore travelling there, but I followed my sister to Germany to be next to her.
I was born in Cairo, I had no responsibilities all my life and I loved it. The change came with the location change when I moved to Germany.
Why did I do that? Still trying to figure out and it has been 4 years now?!
My life in Egypt consisted of me waking up and going to the sports club and hanging out with friends. I played handball sometimes, I started tennis & swimming. What did I do in Egypt? I would go out with my friends because I knew I can get home at any time and my family and my sister were always there for me. You go out with friends most of the time without caring how you get home because HELLO your transportation is always taken care of. In Egypt, I did not use public transportation.
Here is what changed:
Before I moved abroad I was more emotional in my decision making
Parents were taking care of everything in Egypt for us, that changed upside down
I started having routines and my best friends were no longer around
Oh miss the good old times having no responsibilities
I miss and I need people around me of the same background and history
Chapter 2: The Changes & My Future
Moving to Germany I was just a child. Living alone here I became an adult – it was a big change.
Sometimes you need to leave your comfort zone to figure out
who you are
who your friends are
how important your siblings and your parents are
You start appreciating it when you leave your comfort zone.
So this is how my story developed:
1. Now I approach my decisions strategically
If I would be still in Egypt I would have been a different person and I probably would have grown up much later.
2. Here we are on our own. Living alone is hard
Housekeeping? Washing dishes? Never heard about that before. To go to KVR (Kreisverwaltungsreferat) and to deal with bureaucracy on my own? To go WHERE? To do WHAT? Where AM I? Take me HOME! That’s when I realized what is a bureauCRAZY.
To wake up on time, to clean, to clean up after myself (to DO WHAT?), I learnt cooking (can you BELIEVE THIS?) - at home in Egypt, my mother or servants do that.
3. I can understand German now
I know I am slow, but it is a good start.
4. I still have to get used to the fact that nobody will take care of you or tell you if this is right or wrong
No parents - no supervision. When you are living abroad no people come to your life unless you want them to.
If we talk about Arab culture, we are totally different from Europeans by the way in case you didn’t know. The way your parents raised you up is 100% different from the European mentality.
You will experience culture shock and you will want to go back home to the safety blanket. The best thing your parents can do is to tell you: “No”.
In my country, people know you. I couldn’t do things like staying out late (until midnight) as my father would never accept that. Because it is not safe and the Arab mentality says females cannot stay late out of the home.
Here I am fully aware of my own schedule and when I need to be back home for my next day responsibilities.
5. I found out what it feels like to work every day. A bit about my internship:
· I searched for an internship in Germany but I was not successful
I think I didn’t find an internship in Germany because of the German language. I am working on it. The plan is to attend the grammar course.
· In the beginning, my responsibilities were marketing & communication and I worked with the Corporate Social Responsibility of Nokia
We started to do activities for the employees of the company. My first task was to organize a Women Day – to make it special for them.
· Yes I did mistakes, but that is what life is about! Do mistakes just don’t repeat them
It was hard in the beginning to do my first internship, and you know why? Because some people were fired in front of me! Managers fired in front of me, that was harsh.
· My manager was Egyptian, who graduated from a German school.
She talked to me in German and she approached me like the Germans: very strict. I knew somewhere deep inside she was a nice person.
I was very shocked about the recommendation letter after my internship was over though. She rated me very high.
· My hobby is taking photos. I proposed to use it in the internship and suddenly I became in charge of video recording as well as the correspondence with the journalists from 15 countries in Africa & Middle East.
I worked with Moroccans, Tunisians, Egyptian journalists to keep them up-to-date with company events. Every country has data reports and magazines and I had to notify them on the launches and inquire if they are still in the industry. Frankly, it was so difficult in the beginning, as I couldn’t understand some accents.
Dear foreigners, this is important for you to understand: we do not have one Arabic accent! Now that I know Hajar (my friend from Morocco), thanks to her I can understand Moroccan Arabic.
People from Egypt understand Syrian, Jordanian, and Lebanese accents very well. Oman isn’t that bad if they talk slowly. Hey, I can understand Tunisian now, which is a real advantage as well! Very proud of myself.
Bottom line: speak out, show your talents, work hard – this is what internship is for!
· When I went back home to Egypt for my internship in Nokia, I was waking up at 6.00 to go to work, then went to sports club to meet my friends. But the difference was that they did nothing all day and I worked all day. So the conversations sometimes were not balanced.
When I come back home to Cairo, the majority of my friends talk about boys. But hey, there are other things to do: studying, working, hobbies, cleaning up dishes after yourself (*giggle*).
But I get it: they are living with their parents. You don’t need to worry about food, because people do groceries for you, they cook for you.
You have no idea about the laundry!!! This is what I am doing in Munich: Sunday laundry in Munich. And you have to pay for it yourself!!! In Egypt, your parents pay for you.
6. I started eating healthy. I became much healthier overall
I also learnt to walk a lot in Germany. Why should I take UBER?
I can walk?!
Yes, it will take more time but it is so much healthier.
I lost a lot of weight during my internship semester, because of healthy eating and joining a CrossFit group called HiT in Egypt.
I highly recommend it.
Now I love travelling jogging and hiking and live a very active lifestyle.
I want to improve every day and to be come a better person inside and outside!
7. I learnt not to talk about politics
First of all, because I do not really want to talk about Egyptian politics. My country is not what you see in the media! But to prove that, you need to have a very strong political opinion, so I am avoiding this topic.
8. I became punctual
Ok, I try. Ok, not really. Sometimes my friends feel really mad at me because I schedule appointments: “Let’s meet from 17:00 to 19:00 because I have something else to do after”. I realized I’m scheduling appointments like to meet the doctor. Can we do it on Saturday 16:00?
Egyptians are really bad with time. Not all of them, but most of them. Not only because of the traffic. They are just like that. In Egypt you can hang out anywhere any time, everything is open 24/7. Either you take a ride with your friends or you go to a club.
But here in Germany you have to check the transportation, you have to check if the Ubahn (Underground) goes at 2.00 am, you have responsibilities the next day, even if you have no university. For example, on Saturday you have to go to the supermarket, because on Sunday it is closed. Well, I can go to the gas station, but it is expensive.
9. I appreciate having peace and quiet
Sometimes I need it. I love travelling home but not more than for 2 weeks. I like my routine! In Egypt, you will be under the supervision of your parents because you are living in their place with their rules: “Dad can I go out?” - it is respect, you ask them for permission.
10. In my first year, I was depressed as I had no friends
I only talked with an old friend on the phone or over the WhatsApp calls, until I met new friends here from new places.
My friends here are from everywhere!!! Classmates from India & Germany & Dubai as an example.
The people I appreciate having in my life
Ilham & Maha from Libya
Omar from Syria
Awos from Jordan
Hajar from Morocco
Svetlana from Serbia
So far I didn’t succeed at making many German friends, but I am working on it. I really want to improve my Deutsch and to have more German mates! Stay tuned!
11. I love Summer more than Winter and this will never change
I can’t stand cold and snow. Below 8 C degrees is a NO GO FOR ME. Every moment I can, I flee Munich for the sun and the beach. Actually, I have lied. Everything below 20 C degrees I already find rather cold.
I brought a lot of things to Germany from Egypt. But I brought much more back.
Chapter 3: My sister, Manar
Living alone is really hard. If I didn’t have my sister, it would have been much harder.
Manar and I got accepted to Germany simultaneously. Germany would be definitely better than Croatia and Hungary in terms of language difficulty. We thought more people would understand English here as well and we were right. Germany is like an IT Hub in the middle of Europe everyone speaks English so you should not worry. Croatian and Hungarian languages are very hard.
Manar, moved here when she was 24 - 25 I moved here when I was 18. Whatever she learnt at her age I learnt it earlier in terms of travelling alone and responsibilities on your shoulders. Yes I’m living with my sister here in Germany, but she would not let me slack and she gave me responsibilities.
In Egypt, we have separate rooms and lives.
Thanks to Germany we bonded and supported each other because we had to share the flat.
We have 6 years difference in age with my sister. It is not a small amount. Not only age but also in the way we think.
When we started living together, it helped us to narrow that gap and it was better for me and for her. We understand each other better now. We have our own ideas, our mind and our decisions we share with each other but we are also living our own lives.
In Germany I have to take care of everything myself 100%. My sister is not going to do it for me. I tried to persuade her but she wouldn’t give in.
I learn a lot from Manar and I am very thankful.
Chapter 4: Decisions, decisions
If I find the job I will stay in Germany now. My sister is satisfied with her studies in Germany and probably ready to go back to Egypt.
I am not done yet. I want to work, I want to do a Master degree, but I haven’t taken any step or a decision yet.
I would like to study Human Resources. Based on what I am hearing, HR professor in the school I want to study at is very strict, so I am not sure.
I took Marketing & Sales in my Bachelor and through some Human Resources lessons I realized that in reality, HR control the company. Forget about Finance. They are the only ones in charge to hire you or fire you.
My mother is an HR manager in a Petroleum industry. So now I finally know what she does. Hell of the responsibilities!
Ideally, in the future, I plan to work with my parents and take care of them. At the end, I have to come back home.
Because my private life is in Egypt. I don’t want my children to be confused about religion, beliefs, and culture. If my sister decides to go back, then it is fine. But if not, then I have to be back home.
P.S. Something you will not read in books but you have to know (for both Egyptians and foreigners)
- I would advise Egyptians to come to Germany for sure!
- We are the only country that has belly dancers from the Arab world
- We are not African, we are not Muslim, we are not Arabs, we are all of that and also different
- We have pyramids
- We have Muslims, but we also have Christians and we are sharing the culture with each other
- Do not believe stereotypes you hear on TV about the foreigners’ employment in Germany!
I have friends who found internships or jobs, who are from very different backgrounds, countries, nationalities, religions.
It is not about that. Bottom line. If your CV is good – they will take you. Business is business – it is not about the way you look from the outside! It is about how much value you can bring to the company.
Any company would like to hire someone who will bring advantage to them. Yes, it is harder than for EU citizens in terms of the visa but it is not impossible.
It is possible for everybody. Fix your CV and fix your LinkedIn – go ahead, practice and go through these interviews.
