Mariam Tkabladze

Catholic University of Lublin (Poland)

Mariam Tkabladze, MA student of faculty of law. She won Erasmus+ grant and went to Poland in the spring semester of 2019-2020 academic year, at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, but due to the pandemic she had to back home earlier. She continued her study remotely up to the end of the semester. Although Mariam only had to live abroad for a month, she managed to gain little experience.

• Mariam, how well did your expectations for this program come true?
• The program was very interesting and fruitful, both academically and socially. The expectations I had in terms of personal development related to adapting to a whole new environment, gaining new knowledge and experience, getting to know new people and cultures were fulfilled, despite being only a month ahead due to the pandemic.
• What was the most important benefit for you from this program?
• The main benefit was the discovery of oneself and one's abilities in the new environment and moving from so-called comfort zone to the process of learning new things.
• Which personal skills did this program help you to improve?
• Communicating with new people.
• Which professional skills did this mobility help you to improve?
• I gained an interesting and versatile knowledge of human rights and EU law, which made me think more and differently about my master's thesis.
• Which of the subjects taught there would you single out the most? and why?
• The most interesting were the negotiations, human rights in practice and legal skills, because every lecture was a live process in which I was fully involved and after the end of each lecture I felt that some new skills were added. The whole lecture was in a workshop format which included debates, role-playing games, the art of speech which is important for a lawyer.
• What do you miss the most?
• Lublin, the town that was small but youthful and very warm despite the cold winter weather.
• What are the advantages of participating in an exchange program? Why should a student participate in a similar program?
• An exchange program is a way to increase your field of vision and get to know yourself, to create a circle of relationships with people from all over the world and to become a more composed and independent person.
• Complete the sentence: If not this exchange program, I ....
• If not this exchange program, I could not be able to understand, how we need simplicity of everyday life in our country, as it is in Europe.