Now, as a Stipendium Hungaricum Excellence Award recipient, Muees looks back on the journey that took him from an island in the Indian Ocean to the heart of Europe and ahead to a dream of travelling across the continent.
What was the biggest cultural shift you experienced when moving from the Maldives to Hungary?
I think it was the public transport. Back home, getting between islands usually meant a speedboat, or a bus if a bridge connected them. I got around on my motorcycle and never had to think about buses or trams. Here, I traded the bike for trams and buses and stopped thinking about parking altogether. What really surprised me was how easy it is to cross into another country by train, sometimes just a bus. From the Maldives, the only way to get anywhere is by flight.
How did you build a sense of home in a completely new environment?
Senior students showed me around and made the city feel less foreign early on. Having worked in hospitality back home, I was already used to being surrounded by people from everywhere, so making friends from different countries felt familiar rather than strange. What took longer to get used to is the space. Hungary’s flat, open land still makes me feel far from home in a way I can’t quite place, because back home the only vastness I knew was the ocean.
„I’ve learned to find something in the grass and the trees instead, even if it’s not quite the same as the sea.”
— Muees Moosa
The University of Szeged is one of the oldest universities of Hungary. How did the university’s academic environment influence your personal and professional growth?
The professors here didn’t just teach theory, most had real industry experience in fields like marketing, consulting, and operations, and they brought that into the classroom. One lecture in particular corrected an assumption I had carried with me from years in hospitality about how a business function was actually supposed to work. That combination made the material easier to apply and gave me a clearer sense of how these industries truly operate, which has shaped how I’m thinking about my own next steps.
What was the most significant challenge you faced as an international student, and how did you overcome it?
The hardest part was finding somewhere to live after I decided to move out of the university dorm, which was a fair way from the city centre. Most listings and landlord conversations were in Hungarian, landlords wanted paperwork and guarantors that aren’t straightforward to sort out as a foreign student. Some were simply hesitant to rent to international students at all, and the flats worth having near the centre went fast to whoever could view and decide the same day. I got through it mainly because friends who’d already done it helped me find a place and vouched for me along the way.
Which campus experience or tradition stands out as your favourite?
I liked the international events the university and faculty ran, where students could showcase their own culture. I also liked how much ceremony surrounds things like graduation here, with traditions that go back generations. It made the milestones feel like they meant something.
What factors convinced you that Hungary was the right place to pursue higher education?
Hungary’s architecture and history drew me in first, and being in the middle of Europe made it an easy base for exploring other countries as a student. Affordable, well-connected public transport helped too.
„But what convinced me about it being the right choice were the notable people who had graduated here.”
— Muees Moosa
The scientist (Hungarian biochemist Albert Szent‑Györgyi) who discovered vitamin C studied at the University of Szeged, and so did Katalin Karikó, whose work on mRNA technology transformed modern medicine. Seeing that a place could help shape minds like theirs made it feel worth taking a chance.
What is one dream you refuse to let go of?
Travelling to every country in Europe and making at least one real friend in each of them.
If you could send a message to your younger self, what would you say?
What’s coming is bigger than anything you’re imagining right now, and some of it will be hard.
„Take the risk anyway. You’ll regret the comfort zone far more than you’ll regret the mistakes.”
— Muees Moosa
Students often say they experience a major shift during their studies — becoming more independent and feeling they’ve changed for the better. What do you think students should prepare before coming to study here? Is there a message you want to get across to future students?
Coming from the Maldives as a male student, I wasn’t used to doing most of the chores . Cooking, laundry, dishes, managing a grocery budget, these are skills I should have picked up years earlier, not learned at twenty-something out of necessity. My advice to anyone coming here: get comfortable being independent before you arrive if you can. It changes how capable you feel, in your work and everywhere else.
Looking back, what moment during your studies made you realize you had changed?
The first time I travelled somewhere in Europe completely on my own and had to sort out a problem on the spot instead of asking someone else to handle it, I noticed how differently I was approaching things. I was making decisions with a lot less hesitation than when I arrived. I’d underestimated what I was capable of.
What personal transformation or lesson from your time here do you think will guide you the most in your career ahead?
Trusting my own judgement more. There have been moments where self-doubt nearly talked me out of going for something, an application, a conversation, an opportunity, and pushing through it anyway turned out to be the right call each time. That’s the lesson I expect to lean on most, whatever comes next.
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