Anti-war academic migration to Germany

Despite the bureaucratic intricacies, a series of happy accidents brought the student to Marburg

Sam is a social anthropologist who specializes in studying sound and voice. He is currently a Russian bachelor's student who is studying in exchange in Marburg, Germany. Sam cannot return to Russia because he faces military conscription. Sam managed to avoid conscription by literally running away from the enlistment office and flying to another country on the same day. However, his mobile phone and passport remained at the army office. To explain the situation, Sam submitted a statement of theft through his representative.

Sam managed to complete the second year of his bachelor's degree in his Russian university by negotiating distance learning with each teacher.

– It was a challenging situation, and the problem was unexpectedly resolved, mostly by chance. Bachelor's degrees are seldom funded, and Freedom Degree provides financial assistance only to activists. However, I managed to find a training program for myself, quite literally on Tinder. I connected with a guy on Tinder, and he told me about this course. Thanks to this lucky coincidence, I was able to find an academic opportunity for myself."

"In Marburg, I found the bureaucracy to be quite gentle. The more challenging part was to find a curriculum that suited me. Honestly, I am not a big fan of Germany, and I wouldn't prefer to stay here for my studies. Instead, I would be happy to move to somewhere in the north, such as Norway, to pursue my master's degree."

"It's great that there are organizations like Freedom Degree and people who help others from going mad. However, the problem is that these organizations are often invisible. If my friends from DOXA hadn't told me anything, I wouldn't have known about Freedom Degree. This seems to be a common issue with activists and organizations like them. They are difficult to find, but it's good to know they exist."