Belgium? Why?
People: Belgium? Why?
Me: I went for the beer and chocolates.
Hahaha, I am just joking.
When I often think back to why I selected Antwerp Management School “AMS” for my master’s degree, truth is that I stumbled on the school by accident and it has been one of the best decisions I ever made in my young life.
You see, after the one year mandatory National Youth Corps Service, most of my friends had opted to do their master’s degree immediately and get it out of the way but not me, I decided to gain more work experience so I looked for a job and found one at an Investment Bank in Lagos, Nigeria.
I had been at this job as a relationship officer for some time — two years and I was very dissatisfied with my job at the time, so I was due for a change. The next logical step in my mind was a master’s degree. I started to first research the course I had wanted to study and be sure that it was what I wanted to study, after all, I had only one chance at this and I didn’t want to blow it as I had done with the choice of my bachelor’s degree.
For my bachelor’s degree, I studied Economics and when I was in my 3rd year of the study, I realized that I disliked the course because it all seemed so abstract and many of my professors were still using outdated material to teach so the little examples we had didn’t quite resonate with me.
So I did what most average students did, cram enough to get a passing grade in the examination. Not that there weren’t excellent students in my class who went the extra mile to really understand, I just wanted to pass and graduate (future Ebun wishes younger Ebun did better though).
Sidebar: In the spirit of learning and relearning, my knowledge of Economics is much better than it was when I graduated 7 years ago. I now have a better understanding of some of the concepts we learned then and I actually now quite enjoy discussing the economy and all its complexities.
So there I was, researching the merits of an MBA over a master’s degree. Researching the best option that suits me as a person because the curse of having a generalist profile is that you fit in everywhere and all the courses sound good and exciting all at the same time.
I eventually settled on Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship because it had a lot of similarities with an MBA (in my opinion) and then the name also sounded really cool and trendy. You see, I wanted an MBA from the start but the problem with an MBA is that it is a professional course, and should I decide for a Ph.D. in the future, that would mean additional schooling to make up for the gaps.
I stumbled upon AMS by accident, my Nigerian brain had decided on UK or Spain at the most because my criteria for school was very specific; no GRE or GMAT required (because I had a 9–5 that was keeping me too engaged to read any other thing), 1-year program (eliminates the USA and all their wahala), good vibes, great location aka no too much snow or bitterly cold/long winter, affordable fees, English Speaking (obviously) and good educational world ranking.
I know, I was searching for a unicorn but I knew what I wanted was out there. Anyways, I started applying to schools in the UK and Spain (because I had a friend who schooled there and loved it, they also fit right into my criteria). Somehow, I wasn’t still satisfied with all the schools I had applied to, so I continued digging.
Yet another sidebar: This is why it is good to share your plans with people who can help you because you get more insights. Also when you hear something new, abandon your preconceived notions and just research it. I somehow heard about Germany at this time but I was too stubborn to research further into it because I didn’t quite like the person who told me about it.
Humblebrag: I got accepted into all the schools I applied to.
Anyway, as all these were going on, I became tired of Nigeria, Nigerians, and all of the shenanigans. My wanderlust was growing and so was my school search. Eventually, I saw AMS and I quite liked all the student reviews but for me, the deal clincher was that I saw that it wasn’t quite a popular Nigerian student destination (I am now a loyal, card-carrying lover of the green white green, forgive me).
Then I started to research, I reached out to the school and the customer service I received from the staff was phenomenal; they were warm, interested, caring and followed up in a personal way that actually made me decide on the school. Further research also showed that Belgium’s multilingual set up meant I could be closer to my beloved French men who will speak sweet French nothings to me.
All in all, the year-plus I spent in Belgium was one of the best years I have had since I was born. It was really a time of self-discovery, setting boundaries, and personal growth. On the academic side, I learnt a lot; the classes were intensive but very educational and the way the lessons were presented, a very big difference from what I was used to. The school and course curriculum was a great balance of hard and soft skills, multicultural (over 30 Nationalities in my year and I was still the only Nigerian in the school, loved it).
When I want to think happy thoughts, one of my favorite thoughts is Antwerp, Belgium. I was broke-ish but very happy. If given the choice again, I would still choose Belgium. If only Belgium fixes her rule about students living in the country after school/work visa rules sha.
Love you Nigeria, kindly disregard this write up, it is the handiwork of my saboteurs.
