The Senior Change
The lights at the dormitory room are dimmed down, hot coffee is steaming near the laptop on the desk and unobtrusive music is playing at the background, contributing to the ideal studying atmosphere. One of the wardrobes is completely covered with sticky notes and inscriptions of daily schedules, written with a marker. Every day and every hour of a person living in the room is thoroughly planned and organized. On top of the door there is a huge motivational statement of the week, and on top of the mirror — a greeting: “Good morning beautiful princess.” Dana Voronina looks tired but motivated, the tiredness is revealed by the dark circles around her eyes.
Dana is a senior-year student from Moscow, Russia, studying business with marketing concentration at AUBG and she finds her senior year very challenging. “Oh my God! To be honest, this is the toughest year I’ve had so far” says Dana. What makes it hard for her is that this year she has set a high bar for her academic performance despite the future-graduate concerns such as state exams and internship programs. She says, “I’m targeting the highest GPA I’ve ever targeted in my life. Besides my academic success, I also have to focus on my future development after the university so now I have no time for hanging out with my friends and partying.” Dana has drastically changed her attitude towards the education processes. “I am constantly trying to be more time-sufficient since I cannot afford wasting time anymore,” she says.
Even though, now Dana is completely dedicated to studying and self-improvement, during her freshman and sophomore years she was a completely different person. Very spontaneous and crazy decisions were very like her. Diana Ksendzovskaia, her best friend, says: “She is very unpredictable, in a good way, and the craziest stuff that ever happened to me was with her.” Socializing, having fun and parties were her prioritized activities. “I regret not making the most out of the classes during my freshman and sophomore years due to my focus on my outside activities like partying” says Dana with a bright smile on her face. During the first three years at AUBG, her perception was that there is an unlimited amount of time for enjoying life before the graduation. There was not enough motivation to push her forward. As her friend Diana says, “I would describe her as a hardworking person but sometimes she needs a kick.”
In the long run, Dana’s goal to find a dream job that combines all the spheres of her. “I am interested in marketing, management, HR, and the food industry, and I want to make all of them intersect in my life,” she says. Right after graduation from AUBG, Dana is planning to earn some money first in order to have a feeling of financial security. However, the usual fear of the unknown does not scare her. “I already want to leave the AUBG bubble and my comfort zone and start applying the knowledge I acquired here in real life,” confidently says Dana. She is very excited and scared at the same time about her future. “I want to get some working experience in marketing or in the field of human resources in the United States since it is one of the most developed countries in the world and a perfect environment which would help me to avoid corruption and prejudices,” she says. However, Dana doesn’t want to live in the US. She thinks that she would feel more comfortable in a more relaxed atmosphere and gives an example of Bulgaria or Montenegro as her dream place to live.
Dana’s current philosophy is to enjoy every second of her free time, since being a senior at the university is a very romantic moment, which only happens once. She is enjoying her last months at AUBG, attending the last classes in the foreseeable future, and dreaming about her future and making plans for her successful career at the same time.
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Vladyslav Kuzyk in an AUBG senior majoring in Business and Finance . He also shares Dana’s lifestyle.
