{"id":155588,"date":"2023-06-05T11:26:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T09:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=155588"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:49","slug":"first-generation-student-rashmi-engages-in-conversation-with-her-mother-i-never-realised-that-you-were-even-more-nervous-than-i-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/06\/05\/first-generation-student-rashmi-engages-in-conversation-with-her-mother-i-never-realised-that-you-were-even-more-nervous-than-i-was\/","title":{"rendered":"First-generation student Rashmi engages in conversation with her mother: ‘I never realised that you were even more nervous than I was’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Master’s student Rashmi is the first in her family to attend university. It was a significant step into the unknown for her, but also for her mother. \u201cI wondered: how does it all work? Will everything be okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sita Baldew was nervous when her daughter Rashmi went to college: "Because it was completely new to you, but also because I didn't know it myself."<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Sitting in the Mandeville building canteen, Sita Baldew (55) and her daughter Rashmi Baldew (21) have a view of the campus. They came here together from their home in Rotterdam-Zuid. Sita hasn\u2019t been to the university very often. The last time was during Rashmi\u2019s bachelor\u2019s degree ceremony. Rashmi is now pursuing a master\u2019s degree in Media and Creative Studies. Sita herself did not pursue higher education, which makes Rashmi a first-generation student.<\/p>\n

Nervousness<\/h2>

They have never discussed the fact that Rashmi is a first-generation student. \u201cWe didn\u2019t really talk about that at home\u201d, Rashmi tells her mother. \u201cDid you think about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI did\u201d, Sita replies. \u201cI was nervous when you went to university because it was entirely new to you. But also because I didn\u2019t know much about it myself.\u201d Sita completed a vocational teacher training programme in her home country of Suriname and worked in childcare in the Netherlands. \u201cI wondered: how does this all work? Will everything be okay? I was even more nervous than you were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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