Blast From The Past
This month I had an honor to interview two former students of PRIMA International School. Since the time before going to university is extremely stressful for me, I was very happy to hear some other people’s experiences. It was also very nice to see two successful young ladies who were going to the same school that I am in now: Sophie and Tamara came for a visit in our school. You can also enjoy their words:
PI: First of all, welcome back to PRIMA! I am going to ask you some questions about your experience at Prima and your lives afterwards. Firstly, how did you like going to PRIMA?
T: Well I don’t know how it is now, but back then it was really nice, we had an amazing time.
S: When I went here we were in the small school, it was relaxed and chill and everyone was friends with each other. Everyone interacted across all different year groups, it wasn’t just like, you were friends with people in your class you were friends with everyone, it was very friendly. It was the best time of my life, I really enjoyed it.
PI: When did you graduate?
S: I graduated in 2012
T: In 2013
V: What are you studying right now?
S: I finished University 3 years ago and am now working full time. I studied geography at the University of Exton in England.
T: I just graduated 6 months ago. I studied fashion marketing and communication. Basically I did 2 years in Miami and 2 years in Barcelona, it was really nice.
PI: Which A Levels did you take?
S: I did maths, geography, art and ICT.
T: I did Spanish, geography, art, and I don’t remember what else, maybe business.
PI: It’s good to know that one day I won’t remember my A Levels. How is university different from PRIMA and from high school generally?
S: Well the one I went to, it’s like a thousand times bigger and more intense, you don’t have to go to university as much, you don’t have as much teaching time so you have to do a lot of things by yourself, and if you don’t turn up no one will be like “where are you?” so you have to do a lot by yourself. It’s a lot of self-motivation so that’s very different.
T: I mean like you have more time for yourself, you don’t have someone over your head all the time, telling you what to do, like “did you finish your assignment?” They don’t care. If you don’t do it, you will simply fail.
PI: Do you think that PRIMA prepared you for that?
S: Well for me not really because I was the first year to ever graduate PRIMA so we were like the guanine pigs, so for me not really. The study leaves yes because you have time off and you do what you want basically. That kind of prepares you, but in terms of the amount of work, the transition was a bit difficult for me.
T: Yeah, the transition was definitely.
S: And that’s also because I went from a Serbian International School to a British school which I haven’t been to in like 4-5 years, surrounded by British people who I haven’t been surrounded by for 4-5 ears.
PI: This brings me to my next question, how was living in Serbia? And how was moving away from Serbia?
S: It was very much different and strange at first because I moved here when I was 13-14 and so I thought like the world was going to end, like I have all my friends in England. And when I moved here it was literally the best time of y life, I wish I still lived here. Everyone was more chill and friendly and relaxed, and the weather is lovely. Everything’s cheaper, everyone socializes more and England is very different. It was hard to adapt at first but worth it. I didn’t want to leave.
T: I lived here for 8-9 years and I’m half Serbian so for me it was like home, but I also lived in like 5 different countries so I don’t really have a home. But I always really liked it because, like Sophie said, people are so much more friendly here and more social. You go to bars; you go to have a coffee. When I was in the US you don’t have that. Here you have “kafici” and in the US that is nonexistent.
PI: I know that you’ve only been here for one day, but have you noticed how PRIMA changed since you left? Is it a lot different than it used to be?
S: Yeah, it’s like tripled in size and obviously there’s a new building. I was never here; I was in the old building. We only had one floor for secondary and it was really small. And here, it just feels more like a school.
T: It feels more like a school, but then again we haven’t been here long enough to see like how you are treated and how classes look like.
PI: Who was your favorite teacher?
S+T: Mr Srdjan definitely.
PI: What were your favorite subjects?
S: Mine was art and ICT because I really liked Mr Greg as well and I really enjoyed computers. That sounds sad but… haha
T: Geography was nice too, because Ms Tijana was super nice and I really liked her method of teaching. Everything she said stuck to me.
PI: And are you both working now?
S: I am.
T: I am applying for jobs.
PI: Sophie what do you do?
S: I am a transport planner. In London. Anything to do with improving the transport I work on it. At the moment I am looking at the trying to minimalize the construction impacts of the new speed route that’s connecting North England to London. It’s a massive, like billion pound project. There’s a lot of controversy about it because it’s destroying people’s homes. So I’m doing that and I really like it.
PI: And Tamara what kind of jobs are you applying for?
T: I’m applying for like communication jobs, or advertising jobs, like agencies.
PI: Mr Joe gave me these questions to ask you, so you can take a look and choose which seem the most interesting. Maybe this one. Is it true that if you cram for an exam the morning your mark is a t least 25% better?
S: I would say it depends on the subject. For maths, I obviously did a lot of studying beforehand but I always looked at the formulas the morning before the exam.
T: I don’t know, I’m the kind of person who would say you need to study before, but then not do it and just relax before the exam.
PI: Do you have any anecdotes that happened during your time in PRIMA, something funny that happened that you would like to mention?
T: I remember that we hung out a lot.
S: I am trying to remember something that’s appropriate..
T: Well I remember our graduation ceremony it was super awesome.
S: Yes and at the end of the graduation there was like a little party with the teachers, that was fun because we got to celebrate with all the teachers and all the students.
PI: Do you have any advice about being at University.
T: Try not to stress too much, like I did and my hair started falling off. Do work but also try to have fun.
PI: Thank you very much for this interview; hope you have a nice stay in PRIMA and in Belgrade.
Having a conversation with these girls was a real pleasure. Now I am looking forward to my future too.
