Work problems, loneliness, and a totally different life
In China, Xiaoli Hu was spoiled - and so she is in Denmark, she says, but in a very different way. In Denmark, she has encountered a totally new way of working and living - she has had to learn to cook, for example. But she is a fighter who refuses to live on the surface of any kind of society.
Luck is indispensable in any happy story, Xiaoli Hu says.
And Xiaoli Hu’s story has a happy ending, even if she has had a hard time of it, coming from China to Europe at the same time as Corona.
"Three months after I started my PhD in Denmark, I went to Heidelberg University to perform a collaborative project. However, the whole country locked down right after I arrived. Work problems and loneliness visited me together, and it was a life far from what I expected when I was packing my bags for the flight to Europe," she says.
But Xiaoli Hu, 31, is a fighter. She managed in Germany and is now back in Aarhus as a PhD fellow under Páll Karlsson at the Danish Pain Research Center, Aarhus University, happy and well advanced in her research in the field of diabetic polyneuropathy. And her conclusion: it is indeed an amazing experience to study in different countries. You challenge yourself and take something from every culture. Sometimes, it’s exciting to move on and start again.
She first encountered Danish culture in 2014, at the Sino-Danish Center (SDC), a collaborative educational programme between Denmark and China. With her neuroscience background, she was interested in studying the neuronal abnormalities caused by metabolic diseases, and she ended up wanting to do her PhD in Denmark. "But it was difficult to make a new life plan," she says.
"The good luck started with an email I sent to Tore Christiansen, the Managing Director of the DDA. He helped me connect with my mentor, Páll Karlsson, who – surprisingly – had a close collaboration with my previous Master’s mentor, Jens Nyengaard. Together with my SDC friends from my master’s study, I finally found my best support group in Denmark. Without the luck they brought to me, I couldn’t have ended up being here and working on the fascinating studies supported by the DDA and Aarhus University."
Decision making is based on best ideas, not seniority
At work, she is very happy to be in Denmark. "I really admire the work/life balance situation and the equality in the Danish work environment. The decision making is mainly based on the best ideas, instead of on seniority. I am happy to see that the PhD programme is not only research oriented. Communication, collaboration and teaching skills are also integral parts of the training. It’s nice to be trained in an all-round way," she says.
It is not only at work that life in Denmark is very different from the one she lived in China. "Adults still have the opportunity to be 'spoiled' in China. The well-developed and affordable service industry in China allowed me to survive without being able to learn many life skills, such as cooking. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it may help you understand how stressful it was to manage my everyday life here in the beginning’, she says, emphasising that she is working hard to combine the Chinese and Danish cultures and that she also feels spoiled in Denmark. ‘But in a very different way," she says.
"The feeling of being a hybrid is ever-present," she says, adding: "I usually joke that parallel universes exist on this planet, and I experience that in my life. Expectations from the society and the family on each individual are very different in China and Denmark/Europe. I really try to integrate the new culture and the old; it’s important for me not to live on the surface of any kind of society. My experience might not be representative, but if there is anything I could share with new visitors, it is learning to be relaxed even if you are so different from everyone around you. Another piece of advice is: don’t hesitate to introduce yourself to the society. After the lifting of the COVID restrictions, I found good ways to connect with the local life in Aarhus, joining sports and dancing clubs and volunteering at the studenterhus in Aarhus. I like my life to be active."
Maybe it’s the Chinese culture that makes Xiaoli Hu so aware of the meaning of luck. Certainly, she hopes for more - first and foremost that Corona will be beaten back, because it is still an unwelcome guest in her life. "Its influence on me now is still huge. I haven’t been able to see my family and friends in China since I took that flight to Denmark three years ago, which has been one of the hardest things to handle lately."