Tereza Zembova explains the reason why she chose to study European Studies in her home country Czech Republic
To study economics you do not necessarily have to be a brilliant mathematician, however you need to pass the exam of mathematics and a few other exams of subjects which includes using the mathematical models and schemes. If you decide to study Banking, you would have to be good at maths and be able to use it during the years of studying and afterwards in your job as well. But there are many more branches of study at the Faculties of Economics. What about European studies for instance?
The program European studies was formed during the development of the European union. While countries were applying for the membership of EU, their universities started offering new students EU studies in their programs. This branch became quite popular, because there was not enough specialists for EU in these countries and the jobs were just waiting for them.
The situation was similar in the Czech Republic where I am from. In May 2004 the Czech Republic joined the EU and became one of the twenty-five members. During that preparatory period the universities saw the absence of EU specialists on the employment market, this is why they offered to their future students a program called European Studies.
The program offers basic theoretic and practical knowledge of International integrative processes, mainly European integrations and Formation of EU. The key to successful graduation is having the international exam of a chosen foreign language. This program with its contents educates the EU specialists prepared to work in the institutions of state administration or in the private sector.
I mentioned the mathematical skills in the beginning of because it is not my strongest point, however I decided to study economics. But studying the European Union is not only about maths, you can learn a lot for example about the World Economy, European Law, European Culture and so on and develop your language skills as well. I love languages and travelling, meeting new people and getting to know new cultures and new places. This is why I chose to study this program in the first place.
After one and half year of interesting studies at the university I took a one year break and went to England. The main reason for this was to perfect my English language skills. You can learn grammar, vocabulary and the basic rules of a foreign language in your country, but I wanted know how to communicate properly and use English in everyday situations with native speakers. I have been in London for nine months now and my English has improved significantly. I fell in love with London straight away, because it is such a cosmopolitan city and I met so many interesting people from all over the world here.
But in later this year I have to go back to the Czech Republic and continue my studies there. I am looking forward to see all my friends again, but I know I am going to miss London a lot at the same time.
Now I am planning on going abroad more often, because I really enjoy it and being student is such a good opportunity. The university in Karvina where I study is cooperating through the student program Sokrates/Erasmus with a few universities in Europe. Her partner universities are for example in Belgium, Spain, Finland, Hungary, France, Germany and Greece. I would like to spend one half-year term in Spain because my second foreign language in school is Spanish and I would really like to be able to communicate in Spanish at least as well as I can in English now.
In conclusion I would like to encourage all of you to travel. It does not matter what are you studying, just donÕt be afraid of taking a break in your studies and going abroad, you always win more than you loose. Be sure to improve your language skills, meet new interesting people, see new exciting things and absorb brand new experiences. I definitely recommend going abroad, because it is the best way to form an objective view on the world. And in case you have already finished your studies and you started to work, do not worry, you can try it as well, the new language or work experience from abroad will be certainly useful in your updated CV!
Tereza Zembova is a Czech student currently studying English at City and Islington College in North London, England
