It's a lovely Sunday afternoon and I'm having a great time drinking tea at the seaside and writing letters :) It's a very rare occasion when I have no work left for the weekend, but I think I should do something in order to have such days more often, because I've definitely lost the life-work balance at some point. All I have to do is to learn to say "no" to some translations that I don't want and don't need, but I still have that stupid feeling that once I'm a beginner, I should take everything. Then I end up translating 40 pages a day (or maybe even more... I don't even want to calculate) and sleeping 3 hours. That's definitely not the way it should be, but I guess it always takes time to find the right balance. I've already made some progress though: I've refused to take a 30 pages long translation of a sewing machine instruction and they haven't even fired me, they just gave me 7 small certificates instead :P Oh, and I got my first Slovak-Ukrainian translation, as if I could speak Slovak :D Soon I'll be able to translate all the languages I know, as well as those which I don't know... You know, in Ukraine everything is possible! ;) Still, I really need to find the balance, because I need some time for studying, traveling, letter writing and just being lazy once in a while. Or I'll turn into a zombie, which might also be interesting...
But so far I'm still alive and enjoying the sea almost everyday. This particular photo was taken last weekend and I know I've been posting too many seaside photos, but the sea is still something really fascinating to me and I'm trying to come here as often as possible while the weather is still nice. Later I'll keep on coming anyway, but probably not for several hours a day :P
As I promised, I'm going to tell you more about my studies this time. I'm currently a 2nd year student of Greek + English (full time) and Polish + Ukrainian + Russian (distant), but the latter studies only require me to come to exams, so I tend to forget about them :) As for becoming a full-time student for the 2nd time, it was a bit of a challenge. First of all, due to famous Ukrainian bureaucracy, I wasn't allowed to start studying from the 1st year. If I wanted to do it, I'd have to take Ukrainian high school exams next year and then try to pretend that it's going to be my 1st higher education. If you already have a diploma, you can only start with the 2nd year. When I learnt about this rule, I had 10 days left until the interview and couldn't speak Greek at all, I only knew the alphabet and some very basic words. I thought of resigning, but I wasn't taking any risk by coming to the interview, so I'd take private Greek classes everyday for those 10 days and somehow I managed. Of course, they had the full right to fail me, if they only wanted, but apparently they decided to give me a chance, because I had made quite a big progress in such a short time. When we got close to the 1st of September, I was feeling very anxious, because I imagined that my groupmates would already speak at least intermediate Greek and of course the teachers would talk to us in Greek... but no, I'm not that much behind ;) I'm basically caught-up with the grammar, but of course I still have to work on the vocabulary. Actually, I think finding a Greek penpal (or a penpal, who can speak fluent Greek) would really help me... so if there are any Greek snail mailers reading this, please drop me a line ;) You'll have a chance to enjoy seeing your language being totally ruined by me :P As for English (if you study translation in Ukraine, you always have 2 languages), I mostly sleep in the classes, but I still hope they'll somehow help me to improve my skills.
I've been studying just for a month, so maybe it's too early to make any conclusions, but so far I think that there are a lot of advantages to becoming a student for the 2nd time, when you're already a bit more mature. Of course, I realize that not everyone can afford it, because not everyone has the chance to work remotely and combine your job with studies. Yet I think that even if you choose distant/ correspondence learning, it's still pretty good for a number of reasons. Those are just my thoughts and you may disagree - especially that things may be different abroad. But here are some reasons why I think it's worth it:
1. You already know (more or less) what you want. Most of people go to university at the age of 18-19 (or even 16, as it happens in Ukraine) and feel quite confused. Often those are their parents, who take the decision instead of them. Personally, I don't regret having chosen to study political science 5 years ago and would still like to do the PhD in it in the future. But now that I'm a bit more mature and am already working, I find it easier to tell what kind of education I'd indeed need for my career and how exactly could I use my diploma. 5 years ago I only knew I wanted to study, but had absolutely no idea, what could I use it for when I graduate.
2. You feel more relaxed. You're not so much afraid of failing an exam and don't think they'll kill you if you "forget" to do your homework, because you've already gone through the whole education cycle once and you've developed perfect laziness skills :P And you feel no pressure to finish your studies if you feel fed up with them at some point, because you already have a degree and what you're doing now it's an "extra".
3. You can feel young again. To be honest, the idea of being totally done with my studies and being an adult was a bit too scary for me. And while I'm just a 2nd year student again, I can sometimes forget that I'm 6 years older than my groupmates ;) Of course, this thing becomes a bit tricky if you only want to study instead of working... but I suppose in some countries it's possible as well ;)
4. They treat you a bit differently. Of course, you should still study and write tests like others do, but you can skip some classes (I don't know, whether it's the same abroad, but in Ukraine you're officially allowed to skip the subjects you had during your previous studies, so for instance I don't have to come to P.E. or philosophy classes anymore), especially if your teachers know you're also working. They're not trying to discipline you, because it's too late to change you ;) And also you have a different attitude to teachers when you're a bit older... You know that they're people just like you, who also don't know absolutely everything in their subjects. 5 years ago I was scared of my teachers and the power they had over me. Now I'm able to view them as partners, helping me to gain some new knowledge.
5. You get a student card and a 50% discount for Training ;) At least if you study in Ukraine ;)
If any of my Readers have the experience of studying at uni more than once, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.
And now... snail mail time :) Not too much since my last letter, but there is some progress.
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| From Dasha in Ukraine |
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| From Antonina in Ukraine |
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| For Arjen in Belgium |
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| For Dasha in Ukraine |
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| For Antonina in Ukraine |
Today I've been working on a letter to Erin... And hopefully I'll manage to finish in today, before the new week starts. But really, I'll do my best not to let my work turn me into a zombie, I'd like to be able to write letters not only during the weekends. But it should be fine :)
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