“I have a very active social life, and I don’t want to stop it all just because I am studying. That’s why I chose a university, which has a lot of different clubs and societies”, says Sally Sakandelidze from Georgia, a first-year KTU student at Communication Studies and Information Management Technologies.
Even though Sally entered Kaunas University of Technology during the pandemic and could not physically come to Lithuania during her first school year, she remained faithful to herself: the student took an intensive course on Erasmus+, became a KTU Ambassador, and got herself a career mentor, with whom she meets once a month.
“I want to find out about my career opportunities, and what are the things that I can do already now while studying. By finding out more about this profession, I will discover what interests me most and the career possibilities that are in this field”, says a KTU student from Georgia, which in Lithuanian is spelt similarly as in Georgian: Sakartvelas.
She finds Lithuanians very friendly – even online she managed to get new friends, and cannot wait to come to Kaunas to meet them in person.
“When I said that I am from Sakartvelo in my class, I didn’t need to explain where it was, or other things. Everyone knew it and were really friendly to me. It made me very proud”, says Sally, a first-year at the KTU Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities.
In KTU Communication Studies and Information Management Technologies study programme’s curriculum, Sakandelidze found the synergy of two fields that interested her most: communications and IT.
“Communications was a subject that I really wanted to explore, and information technologies have a huge impact on everything in the 21st century. When I first checked this study programme, I thought that this is a win-win: best choice for me”, says Sally.
Just recently, my classmates sent me some photos from a Georgian restaurant in Kaunas – they said we’ll go there when I come.
– Sally Sakandelidze, KTU student at Communication Studies and Information Management Technologies
Differently from most students who choose humanities or social sciences, she was happy to find out that the study curriculum contains mathematics and informatics: “The most exciting part for me was that we were learning advanced maths and I enjoyed it very much! I love solving puzzles and mathematical problems”.
In her classes, she mostly enjoyed gaining practical experience through project learning and teamwork.
“The lecturers at KTU are real professionals, practitioners, and you can easily see the results of what you are studying. In Georgian universities there are more theory classes and individual work, whereas at KTU we have a lot of teamwork and group activities, we gain practical skills, such as writing reports – I think it’s great”, says Sally.
A truly vivacious person, Sally was looking for a university, which offers many extracurricular activities. During her first year, she joined an Erasmus+ project, which involved intensive week-long training, became a KTU Ambassador, advising other international students interested in the University, applied for and was assigned a career mentor. When she finally comes to Kaunas this September, the girl is planning to join Student Union.
“Although there are student unions in Georgian universities, they’re not as large or active as in KTU, therefore I am truly excited and want to join one here. So far, I just made some enquiries, but it will all be easier when I can meet people in person”, says the KTU student from Georgia.
KTU is not the first Sakandelidze’s experience of studying abroad – last year she took Italian language courses and was living in Italy for several months. In her opinion, Lithuanians are friendlier than Italians.
“Maybe I was lucky to have all the friendly Lithuanians in my class”, jokes Sally.
However, she thinks that the friendliness of Lithuanians is due to our similar historical background, and our nations’ mutual understanding.
“Usually, no one knows about Georgia, but in my class, when I said where I was from, they said: of course, we know Sakartvelo! That made me very proud. Just recently, my classmates sent me some photos from a Georgian restaurant in Kaunas – they said we’ll go there when I come”, says Sally.
The lecturers at KTU are real professionals, practitioners, and you can easily see the results of what you are studying.
– Sally Sakandelidze, KTU student at Communication Studies and Information Management Technologies
As a KTU Ambassador, she is promoting the university to other international students. Besides advertising Lithuania as a country of friendly people who all speak English, Sally also says that Kaunas is a relatively cheap place to live in.
“And, then, of course, KTU is a large university with lots of activities, so I say: if you want to study and have fun if you are a bit like me and want to expand your resume, come here”, says Sally.
What about her plans? Firstly, Sally hopes to finally come to Kaunas in September and to enjoy student life to the full.
“As you can see, I am an extrovert, I need communication, so I’ll surely be living in a dormitory”, smiles Sally.
As for her studies, the girl wants to explore the opportunities of a career in the communications field.
“I know that we can work as project managers, and in similar positions, but I certainly want to learn more about this profession. I saw that in the second year we have social media communications module, and I am looking forward to it. At the moment, I have an internship, where I work with social media, and I like it very much, would like to explore this field more”, says Sally.
Since it is her first year, the student thinks that it is still too early to decide, what career in the communications field she would like to pursue – she is exploring her possibilities and looking for interesting opportunities.
“That’s why I am very lucky to have a career mentor, a professional who shares a lot of interesting knowledge with me. We meet once a month and these meetings are certainly useful for me”, says a KTU Communication Studies and Information Management Technologies student from Georgia Sally Sakandelidze.
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