"I’ve always been interested in biomedicine and biotechnology. I’m not sure where it comes from, but I was a big fan of Resident Evil when I saw it as a young girl. I like laboratory work and have always found it exciting, and my interest in science and research grew with the show Big Bang Theory. That actually made me want to be a researcher. So, you can say that pop culture has been significant for my choice of studies."
"I had wanted to go abroad since middle school, but it’s expensive so I decided to wait a bit before doing it. I ended up taking my bachelor’s in China and thought to myself, that I would go abroad for the master’s. I just wanted to try something new and to experience more before I got settled in life. I started to look at US and UK universities but got into Scandinavian ones very quickly and that caught my attention. Everyone speaks English in the Scandinavian countries, and I looked at Sweden and Denmark. I knew Denmark from Lego and H. C. Andersen, and I knew, that it is the happiest country in the world, and since I was tired of big cities my choice fell on Aarhus University. It’s just the perfect size and it has everything."
"And AU is a comprehensive university. So it’s possible for engineering students to have a research collaboration with Health or Arts or something like that. That’s definitely the main reason I chose AU. Engineers are more problem-solving in nature and we tend not to take the initiative to come up with some completely new. "
"Yes, very informal, and for me that was a very new thing. In Portugal you don’t have such informality with teachers. You can never call them by their first name. And for me it was a very nice surprise. That you just walk up to professors and talk with them in a friendly, informal way. I think it is a benefit when it comes to trying to understand what you’re learning. The fact that you can talk informally with a person makes it easier to understand everything, and you don’t have to be afraid to ask questions. And you can feel that they really want you to learn and to include you in the courses".
"I would say the possibilities and opportunities. I don’t know if Danes feel the same way as us internationals but for us, it’s a new environment and a new place – nobody knew who you were before. You can choose and find the groups of people you want to hang out with and everyone is very open to making friends no matter who you are. I can be whoever I want to be, and I will be accepted no matter what. That is a very nice feeling. In the beginning, I struggled a little bit with making friends because I didn’t speak Danish. And you kind of have to understand how people make friends here in Denmark: you have to reach out to them. And then they are extremely open-minded and welcoming. That’s the best advice to give anyone coming here."
"You can knock on the door of any professor and just talk to them. It’s very friendly, open-minded and welcoming. And in many ways I think that Denmark has spoiled me in that regard. Just for writing E-mails to my supervisor for instance. In other countries you’d write something like “Dear Professor Hulman, I hope this email finds you well” and a lot of formal greetings and so on before writing the main purpose of the E-mail. But now, I just write “Hi Adam” and then go straight to the point. It’s much more straightforward and time efficient and I really appreciate it."
"I’m still going to Danish classes, hopefully, finishing with the big final exam, PD3, this year. I also knit, hats, sweaters, and scarves. I like swimming and am thinking of joining a sports club. When I was still studying, I had more voluntary tasks in the cultural organizations but honestly, my life became busy at this point, trying to balance between my job as a PhD student and my role with family and friends. So life is great."
"If you want to know yourself and know the world, come here. Here, you can make friends with people from all over the world and everyone pitches in with their own culture. It’s a high-ranking university and the social life is also great. But it’s a lot more than that. Aarhus is a nice place to not only discover new places and new friends but also to discover yourself."
"My plan is to continue doing research and continue my life in Denmark. I really appreciate Aarhus, for my career, there are great opportunities and great people to collaborate with, and for my personal life, I have built a family."
