My name is Amira. This is not my real name. I am 28 years old, originally from Gafsa, and I have been living in Lausanne for several years.
When I look at my journey today, many people consider that I have succeeded. I understand why: I work for a Swiss medical technology company, I earn a good living, I can help my parents in Tunisia, and I no longer have that constant worry at the end of the month that accompanies so many graduates.
For a long time, I believed that my story confirmed a simple idea: when you work hard, obtain a prestigious degree, and develop sought-after skills, doors eventually open.
Today, I am not as sure anymore. Not because my life has become difficult, on the contrary, but because I see brilliant engineers around me, sometimes more talented than I am, leaving without a contract, without a clear perspective, with the unfair feeling of having failed.
Switzerland changed my life. But it does not keep its promises for everyone.
I arrived in Lausanne with a suitcase and a lot of hope
When I left Tunisia to join EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), I felt as if I were touching a dream I had pursued for several years. In Gafsa, this school represented scientific excellence, international openness, the possibility of accessing laboratories and companies whose names seemed very far from my daily life as a Tunisian student.
For my parents, my admission was a tremendous pride. For me, it was also a responsibility. Leaving for Switzerland was not a simple change of university: it was a major financial investment for my family. Every plane ticket, every month of rent, every expense had to be justified by a form of future success.
I remember arriving in Lausanne. Everything seemed more organized, calmer, more beautiful too, between the lake and the mountains. But I quickly discovered another reality: here, everything costs a lot, very much, and academic success alone is not enough. One must also learn to manage a budget, to live far from loved ones, and to endure the quiet loneliness that many foreign students experience.
Behind the photos, there were also moments of doubt
When my family looked at the photos I sent, they saw a happy young student in front of Lake Geneva or in the modern buildings of EPFL. These photos were not false, but they did not tell the whole story. They did not show the evenings spent doubting myself, nor the nights when I wondered if I truly belonged among students from around the world.
At EPFL, the level is extremely high. In Tunisia, I had often been among the best. In Lausanne, I was surrounded by people who had all been among the best in their countries. This reality forces you to become humble very quickly.
I worked a lot, not because someone imposed it on me, but because I knew what this opportunity represented. I did not want to disappoint my parents. I did not want to disappointing the young woman I had been a few years earlier, the one who dreamed of joining this school.
The internship that changed my life
Looking back, I think my future was decided during my final internship. I joined a company specialized in medical technologies, where I worked on artificial intelligence solutions applied to health data analysis. For the first time, I saw the concrete impact of what I had learned: I was no longer just in algorithms or mathematical models, I participated in projects likely to help doctors and patients.
This experience excited me, but it also terrified me. I wanted to be up to the task, so I prepared every meeting with an almost excessive seriousness, rereading my presentations, double-checking my results again and again. I knew this internship could become a doorway into the Swiss job market.
A few weeks before finishing my master’s, this door opened. The company offered me a contract. I still remember the call to my parents: my mother cried, my father remained silent for a few seconds before telling me that all the sacrifices had not been in vain. I think I will never forget that sentence.
