Decision about the future profession came to me by accident ...

I never thought about the profession of a doctor, and my family and the closest relatives have nothing to do with medicine. And, in fact, there were many options: a choreographer, a lawyer, a teacher, but honestly, whoever I wanted to be! Mom responded calmly and even with irony to my next choice of profession and never imposed her opinion on me. I do not know which way I would eventually chose, if in one’s time I was lucky enough to be treated and observed by one talented doctor. She was an ortho-dontist, immensely polite, kind, competent and simply beautiful woman in an ideal white gown. She gave people beautiful smiles, but she also gave me a ticket to the future profession!

A hot July of 2010 year, and I climbed the stairs to the huge and beautiful building of Vitebsk State Medical University with a folder of documents in my hands and a happy smile on my face - I was going to the Admission Committee. I did not have to wait for long, and in August I received a notice that I had been enrolled in the first year of the General medicine faculty for a state-funded education. All my friends and acquaintances, of course, were happy for me, but 6-years’ training, in their opinion, was un-bearably long. Honestly, I thought about it to myself as well ...

The first academic year, the first of September, the first concert and dedication to the student community ... I sat in the auditorium and watched with pleasure the concert VSMU students performed for us. In general, it is very unusual for me to be a spectator when a concert is performed, because since my five-years old I have been practicing sport and ballroom dancing in my native city and I would never change my place on the stage to the seat in the auditorium. And the desire to combine dancing with the study made me go to a student club. I never even imagined how many opportunities our university gives to students who want to reveal themselves creatively! So many sections, circles, collectives, concerts, events, competitions, that everyone can easily find an occupation to their liking. I found a place to my lik-ing in the "Quickstep" sports-ballroom dancing group.

My college years were not monotonous, I was doing simultaneously everything I liked: I studied, participated in concerts and competitions and every weekend I went to my hometown for training since I was a member of the national team of the Republic of Belarus in sports and ballroom dancing and repre-sented the country at competitions of different levels, including the world level. And despite my very rich creative life, despite the fears of the dean's office, I was always among the honors after each end-of-terms exams.

My friends always wondered: how do I manage to succeed in everything?! I never considered my-self as a gifted child and I do not have any super abilities to keep in mind the material I read. My secret is very simple: I like everything I do, and therefore I begrudge neither time nor effort for it.

I like my future profession, I did not regret about it even for a second for all university years. I like to study. I can binge reading books on histology, physiology, microbiology, without noticing the time. Therefore, I sincerely do not understand the questions about how I manage to learn so successfully.

People who surrounded me during these six years played an important part in my student. These are academic staff, participants of the student club, and friends. I, probably, was very lucky, as I always found in every person what I want to learn from him. In the first academic year, we crashed and burned at the first lesson in biology ... cause our lecturer was Pobyarzhin Vyacheslav Voitekhovich, who de-manded from us extremely precise and detailed answers to all questions. Honestly, we learned the content of the manual book by heart, we were afraid of him, and biology was our Friday stress, after surviving which, we left for the weekend with a sense of bewilderment, how all this can be studied and remem-bered. At that time we did not fully understand that he wanted us future doctors to be precise and disci-plined, able to clearly and correctly express our thoughts. Now I say thank you!

When a third-year student, Belyaeva Lyudmila Evgenyevna was our lecturer in pathophysiology ... everyone was afraid of her, because she was strict with us and gave a very large amount of new knowledge which seemed that we could never learn it... But at the same time she gave a powerful motiva-tion that it must be done. My eagerness for study was estimated, and she became my first scientific su-pervisor. Frankly, at first I was very timid of this incredibly clever and strict lecturer, but everything changed when working together. She proved to be a very benevolent and fair leader, she opened for me the world of medicine from other side, taught me to distinguish the main from collateral and think clini-cally correctly. And I also want to thank her!

Lollini Vladimir Albertovich, a wonderful lecturer, professor of the Department of Internal Dis-eases No. 2, believed in me and in my desire to learn cardiology, and supervised my thesis work, and I would like to thank him! I want to express my gratitude to the whole Department of Anesthesiology and Emergency Care for my future specialization, especially the female part Nikitina Ekaterina Vladimirovna, and Samsonova Irina Mikhailovna - excellent leaders and competent specialists who made me love this specialty!
Shalyutin Edward Vyacheslavovich, the head of the Students’ club, is probably the best head of this student community! It was only him, who could manage to defend our interests and realize all our possibilities in remarkable concerts. He is kind and open to all our new and bold ideas, a creative and in-credibly talented person! At every concert or event, he is always behind the curtains and anxious for each performer, rejoices at our victories, and experiences our failures! He scolds for non-assortment at general reprisals and praises for success on the stage. You know, dads do in that way... and for all of us all, he's a dad! And I thank him for that!

Six years slipped away like one moment - beautiful, saturated and unforgettable time. I graduate from the university and leave Vitebsk. I do not know yet when going down the steps of the huge and beautiful building of the Vitebsk State Medical University for the last time with a diploma in my hands, whether I will be as carefree and happy as I am now ...

Olga Smirnova, graduate of the Faculty of General Medicine