‘Be the color that will give the painting a beating heart, Poland is my first step in the 1000-mile path’ - Ahmed Tabash

Every time when I feel depressed and I can’t keep going on my way because of some difficulties in the life, I remember the quote of Henry Ford:’’ When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it’’. The life is not easy; the life is a challenge. So, whenever I am wondering in a symposium, there is always a painting that captures all my senses and let me forget about anything else. Within that painting, there's always a colour that attracts me in the same way that bees are driven to dizzies and children to ice-cream trucks. I grow up determined to be that painting, to be that particular colour. The colour will give the painting a beating heart. And the painting that will give the whole exhibition Life to reach that limit and beyond, I knew that I had to be powerful, self-confident, but most importantly, outgoing. I taught myself how to knock on doors that no one pays attention to. How to lead myself into the road not taken.

I am Ahmed Tabash, from the most terrible place in the world which is the Gaza strip in Palestine. You will not be able to see airport or seaport there, it’s too difficult to go out from there because of the blockade, a lot of people say that it is like a big prison. In Gaza, young people there have few choices after they graduate from college. From my side after graduation, I decided to complete my master studies abroad. The idea to enter the university abroad came to me after coming back from USA. That was my first time to see the outside world, I got a scholarship from Indiana University to study Business Administration in USA for 2 months in 2016. I was shocked and I saw the differences between the life in Gaza and the life there. I finished my bachelor's in Civil Engineering with grades demonstrates academic excellence from the Islamic University of Gaza in February 2018. My graduation ceremony was in August 2018 and I was the speaker of the graduate’s speech and I said one statement ‘The life is not easy, the life is a challenge and we are a generation that refuses to live in a deadly shell’.

It was a brilliant opportunity when I applied for the Lukasiewicz Scholarship Programme by NAWA. Everything was clear and simple during the application submission. After 24 days from my graduation ceremony, I got a positive decision to complete my study in Poland through this program. The first stage of program is the preparatory course, which was a wealthy chance to study the basics of the Polish language and know more about Polish culture. I spent more than 4 months in the language school in Krakow and the atmosphere was so amazing with professional staff and teachers. I had good, happy and shining memories with them. During this period, I was so eager to discover Krakow city, I liked this city too much. I really feel that I fall in love with Krakow such as; people, historical places, culture, nature, etc.

During searching for universities and master programs in Poland. I found the course I like to complete my studies. That is ‘Construction Technology Management’ at Poznan University of Technology. I think I didn’t find this course at other universities. Poznan University of Technology which is one of the best technical universities in Poland. Furthermore, URAP ranked PUT as in top of 6% of world universities. The process of admission to the Poznan university is simple. Studying construction management will open a lot of opportunities that will integrate between the science of engineering and the art of management and make a quite strong academic background for me in knowing the broad nature of construction engineering with a range of subjects that deal with the design, construction, management, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment. It develops the essential skills of systematic research, analytical thinking, and information evaluation. PUT has teachers that are well deliver information, as well as all textbooks are available in the library and on the Internet resource and especially the international office and my faculty team are so helpful and nice people. However, there is a different educational process at PUT. Here, you should not only attend lectures, but also work at home in your spare time, to secure the material. By the way, I advised my friends to apply for NAWA programs and come to PUT to complete their study, I helped them during the process of applications. So this year ‘2020’, PUT has 6 Palestinian students, three of them studied with me in Gaza in the same university, same course and same year.

The last winter semester, PUT offered Erasmus (a program of student exchanges). I applied for it to study this semester in Germany at RWTH Aachen University, it’s one of the most prestigious educational systems in the world and as far as I know. It was a good experience, I studied some courses related to sustainable development. I was living in Aachen, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. Being an Erasmus student has lots of advantages, one of them being able to move from one country to another, live and discover a new place, new culture, learn a new language and make new friends. On the other hand, I will be able to upgrade my CV and improve myself both professionally and personally. Erasmus is much more than just studying abroad and discovering new people and habits, it's about rediscovering a better version of student life.

Due to the critical situation, life is more different than before with more restrictions and procedures to limit the spread of the COVID19 virus. So, now I am in quarantine as same as everyone. I am staying in the student dorms with my friend as shown in the previous picture by taking into consideration all possibilities that will prevent bringing the virus. Currently, I am in the last semester at PUT. I am working on my master thesis with title ‘Application of BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology for the design and implementation of Green Buildings’. I am looking forward to obtaining my master's degree in September 2020. I am happy to be a student of PUT. I would like to thank from my bottom of heart Poznan University of Technology, the international office and all crew of the faculty of Civil engineering and transportation with much appreciation

Finally, in that way, people will see the efforts and hardships that you go through to reach your goals. And without realizing, you will see yourself shining in their horizon. In that painting of life, you don't need to be that color that blocks all other colors and steals the focus away. You need to be that strong color that integrates with all the elements of the painting so that it can breathe.

Ahmed W M Tabash

Ahmed Tabash
From: 
Palestinian Territory

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