Marija Milosevic
M. Milosevic - A transformative mobility experience: my internship in Phnom Penh
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Marija Milosevic is a Nursing student at the Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care (DEASS) at SUPSI. She completed an international cooperation internship in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh, during the autumn semester 2025/2026.
What is the strongest emotion you brought back home, one that still makes you feel nostalgic about your mobility experience?
The strongest emotion was the sense of shared humanity, even in the most difficult conditions.
In Cambodia I met people who lived with very little, yet who maintained a dignity, kindness, and ability to smile that deeply touched me.
I miss that feeling of being immersed in a reality that constantly confronts you with what is essential: human connection, people’s gaze, the value of a simple caring gesture.
We tend to give a lot of importance to material things and much less to the small everyday moments life offers us, those that truly make us happy.
Thanks to international cooperation and the opportunity to experience contexts very different from those in the Western world, I learnt to reassess what my real needs are.
Was there an unexpected experience, an encounter, a challenge, a discovery, that made you think: “This is why it is worth going abroad”?
One of the most powerful moments was when we went with the mobile clinic to the landfill in Phnom Penh, where several families live and work among the waste.
In that context, I realized how health is not only a medical matter, but also profoundly social and human.
Despite the extreme conditions, people welcomed us with gratitude and trust. They managed to carry on with remarkable positivity and gratitude, despite the serious daily problems they faced.
This is precisely why it is worth going abroad: to see the world through different eyes and to truly understand what it means to care for others, to face daily challenges, and to recognize what one’s real necessities in life are.
In what way did daily life in Cambodia help you grow, not only as a student, but also as a person?
Cambodia taught me above all humility and adaptability. As a nursing student coming from a highly structured healthcare system such as the Swiss one, finding myself in contexts with limited resources forced me to question many certainties.
I learnt that care is not only provided through technology or protocols, but also through relationships, listening, and respecting the culture of others. This experience made me more aware of my limitations, but also of my strengths.
Looking back, what would you say to a student who is unsure and afraid of stepping out of their “comfort zone”?
I would say that stepping out of one’s comfort zone can be frightening, but it is precisely there that the most profound transformations take place.
A mobility experience is not just an internship: it is a journey into cultures, realities, and parts of yourself you had not yet discovered. You come back home transformed.
From Cambodia I brought back new professional skills, but above all a more open outlook on the world and on people.