WOW! This UBB alumni is studying masters in Russia. On a Scholarship? (By Zahra Zarina)

Achievement and developing soft skills outside of lecture hours is the choice of each student. The reason is, not everyone is able to balance between lectures, organizations, and achieving achievements. The same goes for what Irfan Efendi did, because the man born in Bedengung, South Bangka has always kept himself busy in organizing and achieving achievements.

 The man who is often called Irfan is an alumnus of the University of Bangka Belitung who graduated in 2021, to be precise with a bachelor's degree in economics majoring in accounting. He is now continuing his studies in Russia, to be precise at the Orenburg State University for a master's or master's level. He admitted that the intention to be able to continue studying abroad had existed since he was still studying at UBB. That's because he was very motivated by the lecturers' degrees at the UBB campus, most of whom graduated from abroad.

 Short Story of Scholarship Preparation

 Irfan started looking for information on foreign scholarships while still in semester 7, in 2019 to be precise. At the end of 2019, he received information that there was an overseas scholarship guidance program from the province. The scholarship is a scholarship from the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (UMKM) Office in collaboration with the Governor of Bangka Belitung.

 He registered himself until he was finally accepted and guided in December 2019. He became 1 of more than 2,000 students who registered throughout the province of Bangka Belitung. Then it was selected again to be 100 people selected, and in the end he still passed. In early 2020 he started tutoring language classes for one year. he even provided guidance on the sidelines while writing his thesis. he is seeking scholarships to various countries including, Russia, Turkey, Romania, China, Korea and Azerbaijan.

 In April 2021 came the announcement of a Russian scholarship to continue the Interview session, not long after his undergraduate graduation. Then 2 weeks after the interview was carried out finally the announcement of the participants who passed, and He finally also passed.

 "I thought it was an extraordinary gift from my undergraduate graduation yesterday. After that I started preparing all the files needed, in December 2021 I left for Russia with 2 of my friends also from Bangka," he said when interviewed on Thursday (01/01/ 2022).

 Experience:

 Irfan's parents are very proud and touched by the enthusiasm of their son who is now able to pursue master's education abroad with a scholarship. Now, in Russia, Irfan has to get used to the new culture and customs there. He admitted that he had experienced culture shock because of the different food, plus there was no Asian Market there. Apart from that, the very different weather is also a difficult thing for Irfan, because the weather there is always cold, this is very different from the weather in Indonesia, which is always warm. This made him have to get used to and adapt to a new environment.

 At his new campus, Irfan participated in many activities such as volunteer activities, organizations, committees, and won various competitions. One of them is that Irfan was a delegate from Orenburg State University to take part in a debate competition. The Russian-language debate competition was a competition with an economic theme, which in the end he passed to the National level in Moscow. He then won the race along with his friends.

 At the end of the interview, Irfan mentioned that to get what we want, intention and motivation are needed. The most important thing is how to get the support of those closest to us so that our spirits don't disappear and we always try. Apart from that, Irfan also gave motivational words in Russian which he mentioned.

 “Ð?евозможноÑ?ть - Ñ?то вÑ?его лишь мнение”

 means “Impossibility is just an opinion”.