Good days give you joy and courage

3. May 2022 ScholarsAlumniOeAD
Ernst Mach worldwide alumni Mengyue Duan writes about her stay in Austria

I am a Ph.D. student from Northwest University in China, and I came to the University of Salzburg to study under my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jörg Robl, with the financial support of OeAD through the Ernst Mach worldwide scholarship. The reason why I chose the University of Salzburg and the Department of Geography and Geology is the high academic level of Assoc.Prof. Dr. Jörg Robl and Em. Univ. Prof. Dr. Franz Neubauer and the good foundation of previous cooperation. I believe my academic ability will be greatly improved by studying here. My focus is on analyzing the factors affecting the evolution of landforms and drainage divide migration.

My studies at the University of Salzburg have improved me in both personal growth and academic skill. My writing skills developed very quickly after I checked the comments given by my two supervisors after each paper I wrote. During academic discussions several times a week, the profound knowledge of the two supervisors always gave me a lot of new ideas to solve problems and my academic skills also improved a lot. In my daily life, we can give academic presentations at the University of Salzburg and discuss academic progress together, and the academic atmosphere is very strong. The students in Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jörg Robl’s research group helped each other, which allowed me to strengthen my academic skills as well as my English expression skills. At the same time, my colleagues were from Colombia, Germany, France, and the US. We usually chat together every Thursday afternoon and get to know more about the culture of many countries. Thus, I learned a lot from them. Additionally, the OeAD scholarship also provides many opportunities for scholarship recipients to communicate with each other online. Through video chat, I was able to exchange ideas with several students who came from all over the world to study in Austria.

I love the University of Salzburg and beautiful Salzburg. My university is wonderful and often has great seminars. Salzburg is situated among the magnificent Alps and has beautiful natural scenery. The city is very safe, and people are very sincere and friendly. You can always see cordial smiles on the streets. I met a lot of new friends here and experienced a variety of cultures and lifestyles. In Salzburg, I continued to develop my hobbies. I like painting and taking pictures and being close to nature. Hence, I took many beautiful pictures of Salzburg.

When I return to China, I will share my valuable learning experience in Salzburg, which was a very memorable learning and living experience in my life. I left my family and friends in my motherland and came to a new environment and was able to live well. My personal ability to live alone has been enhanced and I can now make very good Chinese food. These valuable learning and living experiences have enriched my life and given me the courage to continue exploring forward.