Our student from the Faculty of Psychology, Dance Miteva is studying at Trnava, Slovakia, through the Erasmus + program now.

Below you can read about her impressions and experience of being a student there.

First of all, I would like to express gratitude to my university i.e. the International Slavic University “G. R. Derzhavin” for the opportunity to be part of a program like Erasmus +. I would like to thank our Erasmus coordinator Jasmina Presilska who has done her best this wish to be realized and she continued to support me regarding any necessary needs and to thank Lena Slovak, the Erasmus coordinator from Slovakia who has welcomed us with a smile and has been ready to find the necessary solution whenever needed.

The university where I am studying is called “St. Cyril and Methodius” and it is located in Trnava, Slovakia.There is a great Department of Psychology at the university. Also,I must express gratitude to Professor Zuzana Rojkova, a Coordinator of the Department of Psychology, for all the support (and patience) that she has given, whenever I address her with frequent questions, wishes and requests, as well I have to thank Professor  Andrea Baranovska who has dedicated her time to quality office hours in a truthful way every week despite the great number of full-time students.  And I have to mention Professor Rudolph Fabri. In addition to the subjects I chose for this semester, due to my curiosity, I have been able to consult any professor on any subject without any problems and they gladly explained or showed me something in their field of work. I was very pleased to attend the visiting professors’ lectures.

Although learning comes first, it does not mean that is the only thing to be done. One of the greatest benefits of the Erasmus program is making friends with people who come from a great number of countries with whom I know that I will keep in touch after completing this semester. On the floor of the dormitory in which we live, there is harmony besides the mix of nationalities, regions, cultures and values (if we ignore the comment found on the fridge about the stolen pizza). The phrase “I am grateful to Erasmus for exposing me to people with different views” is often repeated, and the improvement of English is evident to all.

Despite all benefits, moving to another country is difficult. So, I am extremely grateful for the existence of ESN (Erasmus student network), that even organized a lecture for all Erasmus students on how “to survive” this period led by a professor of psychology at the University of Trnava. The Erasmus support has indeed come from many sides and in many areas. Karla, Rebecca, Marek and other members of this organization have been seriously committed to making this change easier for Erasmus students regarding the support for technical problems outside the faculty and organizing a variety of socializing and entertaining events. Some of these events were: visiting cities; visiting a cave; going to festivals; going ice skating; cultural nights with food specialties, songs, dances, quizzes, sport games…

Certainly, there is also time for a self-organized trip. Due to the city’s location, there are some students who travel to Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Krakow every weekend while the students who are more adventurous have travelled to Italy, France, Norway, Holland, Germany…

Erasmus + is a great opportunity in many ways (personal growth and development, knowledge expansion, friends, connections…), but like everything else in life, whether, how and how much it will be used depends on the student himself/herself.