Ania's story

"I want something that allows me to grow as a person and help other people."

I do Mastery Spanish and Mastery German. I also did Russian through Languages for All and I am a native Polish speaker and I have basic French. During my year abroad I also studied the Yucatec Maya language which was really interesting. It’s a language not related to anything I know and it’s amazing to see how people see the world. I'm actually writing my dissertation in Spanish about the Mayan languages.

I’m fascinated by people and different cultures, I always wanted to travel and see how others see the world and be able to understand them, communicate with them and really get to know them; rather than see their home and get a selfie, I really wanted to know their cultures.

Essex has given me a lot of amazing opportunities. It's such a bubble; you can have anything you’re looking for and find it here. I feel like it's unique, and I feel really good here because it feels like home. I feel I’ve met all of the nationalities here and I love learning about culture so it’s amazing. It’s like a micro world in one place.

I felt very proud of myself when my Spanish lecturer offered me the opportunity to skip two levels. I started studying Spanish in my first year with the goal to study for a year abroad in Mexico and I was really dedicated to studying Spanish. After one year of study my teacher offered me to go straight to proficiency level and I felt really proud. I was even more proud when I passed this with a good mark and I was basically fluent after two years. It required a lot of dedication, I was even sleeping with Spanish audio books and running with Spanish music so I dedicated a lot of time and energy to it but I also enjoyed it. I had done no Spanish at all before university and now I’m writing my dissertation in Spanish.

I came to Colchester seven years ago to work. I passed my A-levels and wanted to go abroad and researched opportunities and an au pair role here was the first thing that came up. I passed my A-levels and within 5 days I was here so it was very spontaneous and I just gave it a go. I worked here for 2 years and in the meantime I was researching universities all over and someone told me about the University of Essex and I looked it up and found the perfect course. I could study two languages and have a third one through Languages for All, and I could also do business management modules on the side which I couldn’t find anything else. It was a miracle because I’d been researching all over and then found the perfect course where I was already living.

I think my main aspiration, well my plan, is to stop for a moment and make sure I have time to think and reflect and I would like to find a way to be able to grow but also have my peace of mind and be within nature and make some change. I’m just trying to find a way of life where I can be happy, that’s my aspiration. I don’t want to get into a race of setting my goals, I want something that allows me to grow as a person and help other people because that also makes me happy. I want to have some time for my family and friends and keep exploring other cultures. I would also like to do some postgraduate study, possibly in Anthropology and live with some other cultures in Latin America.