Another year behind me – really?

I suppose such a phenomenon is not anything new to other students. Greater pressure was also put on us, Psychology students, since the department decided to raise a grade boundary (B2) requirement for progression into Honours. All of the students were worried that their future would be destroyed quickly. At the same time, the lecturers constantly reminded us of the fact that more than a half of the students would not be able to progress. Another contrast with the last year was the eight time greater amount of study resources (books, articles, statistics and others). Even though at the beginning of the academic year and throughout the semesters I could not believe such a change and I was not sure whether I would have an ability to deal with it, in the end I made it and successfully completed my second year of the university. Fortunately, the lecturers felt the necessity to make the classes and topics as interesting as possible to make the studying of that quantity more pleasant. Although I would find few topics I did not find that amusing and interesting, I have to say that Psychology is becoming more and more attractive to me. I appreciate that this university enables us to look into each branch of this subject to help us with finding (if we have not found yet) the journey towards our professional life. In the following two years they will broaden the offer of Psychology fields and I will be able to increase my knowledge in those most interesting for me.

Although Psychology was not the only subject I chose for the past year, I would like to dedicate these lines primarily to this subject. I would just like to mention that I was also studying Spanish Language and Spanish Culture, which has broadened my language and social skills, and awareness about the theatre, movies, literature and culture. Nevertheless, Psychology is the only subject I am going to study in the following two years (and of course during my whole life) in order to get an honours degree. Before I entered the university course I did not really have any specific picture of my future journey. Essentially, I knew that I would like to dedicate myself to Psychology in general, but the conception was far from concrete. However, after the two years of studies I have moved a step further in regards to this, and I still will have some time to decide what I want. Until now I have realized that Psychology is close to my heart. My not always happy experiences have shown me that I want to help people, even if fractionally. Thus, as Publius Vergilius Maro claimed, I can as well say that “misfortune has taught me to provide help for the unfortunate ones”. In the past year, developmental (childhood in particular), applying (forensic, educational and clinical), personality (disorders), and social psychology interested me probably the most. These are probably the areas I would like to investigate and research in my professional life.

I still cannot believe I have made it up to here. Even though for some people it may not seem to be a huge accomplishment, the journey I have walked has been a huge success for me. However, it has not been only me behind this. If I did not get the chance to study at Open Gate and at the University of Glasgow, which was enabled by The Kellner Family Foundation, I would not be where I am now. It has made my studying a lot easier, into which I can put more effort. I realize that not a lot of people get such a gift, and since I can never say too many thanks for that I would like to do this again. I am very grateful to this foundation for the psychological and financial support not only in the past year, but in all those ten years.