With work you can do it all
Alexandra Bejinariu, 22 years old, student at the Faculty of Medicine
I didn't realize which way to take it until high school. Initially, I chose economic high school and did performance sports for a long time. The field I chose, in the end, was medicine. I would often say to myself: Wow, if I went there, I would do anything, I could do anything! And I was ambitious and prepared on my own, at first, and then I said I wanted to do meditations as well. And from the 10th grade I seriously decided that I wanted to be a doctor.
My mother used to tell me about medicine at home, but she always let me do what I wanted. I mean, from the 9th grade I was set to go either on math or on science, but I said no, no, high school of economics. And she supported me for anything I wanted. And when I changed my mind and said I wanted to go to medicine school, she still supported me and said I told me to do what I wanted, which I loved. She supported me in whatever choice I made, and that was very important.
I often watched medical series, like everyone else, like Grey's Anatomy, and that drew me to see the job of a doctor differently. I loved the life of the characters there and how it was told in the series. Along the way I realized that it was just a series, that in reality it's not quite the way it appears on TV. Beyond that, when I was in high school, a lady doctor came and I did private classes afterwards and she gave us some introductory lessons and I was very attracted to what she told us.
If I were to compare high school life to college life, I like it a lot more in college. In college, it's exactly what I expected. Here I even discovered some real friends, friends with whom I have a lot of things in common, we found ourselves in this field and I really study what I am passionate about. And that's very important: to go and study what you really like.
Maybe if I had gone to another profile, I wouldn't have studied with so much pleasure compared to how I'm studying here. When I was preparing for college, I thought it wasn't quite as others say. That I was told there was going to be a lot to learn. Yes, it's a lot, that's right, it's not easy, but you get used to it. After a year, after an exam session, two you get used to the volume of learning – you remember differently. There's a big difference from how I was studying in my first year and how I'm studying now.
It was very important for me not to drop out of school. I don't think you'd be able to do anything, not necessarily in medicine, in absolutely any field. It's very important to go and learn because that's how you set your base, your foundation, your putty that you don't want a certain specialization. But you have to have a base, a foundation from which to start from. For now, I'm not determined what I'd like to specialize in, I'm thinking about cardiology, but there's still time before I have to make a decision.
I didn't even know at first that I wanted apply to med school. But if I were to give some advice to those at the beginning of the road, I would tell them not to give up and realize that it's never too late to find a passion and pursuit it. And if you have the slightest confidence that you want to pursue something, that it's something you'd love to do, you'd better try and put all the chances there. If that's what you're passionate about, anything is possible. It has nothing to do with what high school you graduated with what college you want apply at – you can change your field at any time.
Something done for me
Diana Stan, 16 years old, student at the "Decebal" Theoretical High School, Bucharest
I was in high school when there was a casting for a theatrical show and everyone guided me to try. I can't say that I wanted to at first or that I was extremely excited, but I said let's go, though. Including me, there were over 40 people for one spot. I had the casting that day, and after two days they called me and announced that I had been accepted. At first, again, I wasn't very excited, it was something new for me, I didn't know what to expect. But I got to the theatre, to the theatre hall, and I said, here I stay!
It was pretty tiring because I did both high school and theatre at the same time. I was going from high school to get to the theatre and vice versa, as I had afternoon classes. But I feel like that's where I belong, that's where I felt at home. For me, theatre has become a relaxation. What I do, I do for pleasure. Beyond the theatre, I also volunteer at the “Foișor de Foc“a place that is about saving the lives of others, that focuses on how you provide first aid.
Any activity, any extra thing, helps. I notice, since I am involved in more activities that I develop much more beautifully, much faster. It's different when you see another world. You see yourself in the mirror and you see yourself differently. You see yourself as you can more and more. I like to get involved in activities, that's how it's always been. What also helped me was that I never heard from my mother things like: don’t go there, you can’t do it. It matters a lot the support from parents, an advice. When you feel like you're downstairs and you hear something good from someone close to you, it gives you the strength to get up.
In the 9th grade I wanted to go to the Military High School – I enrolled, I took the tests, but when I heard that I had to stay away for four months from home... I thought about my family. And I decided to live my childhood, my adolescence, and put this dream on pause a little bit.
I feel that I need stability, for my independence, so that it does not sit in anyone's hands. I also want to go to university, I want to be independent. I don't like to depend on anyone. I think it's important to do what you love, especially for patience, for your mental state. If I don’t like something, it would chop me up. So when you go and you're interested and you want to do more. I want to apply to the Police Academy, even though I hear quite often that I choose a job for boys. That doesn't affect me, because I know what I like.
Success for me means feeling proud of myself to say: I made it! To say it out loud, in a mirror: I made it! If I were to give some advice to those at the beginning of the road, I would tell them to trust them, in the choices they make. I think it's important to do what you love, especially for patience, for your mental state.
Faculty first
Ungureanu Andreea, 20 years old, student at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
From 11th grade I chose what I wanted to do. I loved animals from a young age. I used to go to the farm, with my parents, with my grandparents, especially in the countryside, where I was surrounded by them. In high school, when the open days were, we had some meetings at the colleges, and they sent us to veterinary medicine. My passion for this job began then.
My parents supported me a lot, especially my dad, because I asked him the first time how he thinks of my choice. He supported me financially and emotionally from the start. And just like him, my mother also supported me. It makes me feel happy that I have someone parents by my side. It would have been hard for me to be alone, to have no one, my will would have been lower if I didn't have anyone.
Since I started school, I liked biology and anatomy and I said if that's my passion, I'll move on with it. To also please me. If I do something I don't like, I'm not going to get it to the end.
I am currently employed at a supermarket, because I can't handle the money and I wanted to work extra. I’m doing work and school in parallel. At the faculty I also have laboratories, and courses, depending on the professors. Sometimes I talk with the professor in order to do the classes in the morning and then go to work in the evening. Or vice versa. It depends on the schedule I have at the faculty, which I put first.
I want to finish these six years and it would be a great success for me to graduate and get to practice. I really want that. It's hard, but I know I can. I want to be a successful role model for the doctors I know, I want to make them proud. But mostly on my family. To those who are now choosing a path I would say that it's not always going to be all hard. I know that the 8th grade exams and the Baccalaureate exams are also coming, and it's a great fear for everyone. But they can do it! Step by step, they can. You choose the job along the way, if you have a motivation or something you like, it will be very simple to choose afterwards high school and then university.
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