Who am I?

Who am I?

My name is Yasemin, I was born in Salzburg, I am 26 years old and currently living in Graz. I’m going to be honest with you – I am a person who gets distracted very easily, plus I have never written a blog post before in my entire life. So, before I sat down to write this article, I said to myself, “Chill, you got this! First check out some blog posts and interesting articles on how to write blog posts, maybe watch a video about it on YouTube and then just finish it!” Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. What I actually wound up doing was watching (and singing along to) the intros of several 90s cartoons, such as Darkwing Duck, Tailspin, and studying how they were dubbed into different languages. Mission failed. But at least now I can assure you that the intro to One Piece sounds awesome in German.

As you can already guess, I’m really into languages. I love travelling and exploring different countries and if I was insanely rich, that’d be all I’d be doing for the rest of my life – learning new things and helping people. I know that that may sound cliché, but it’s the truth. In fact I already spent three semesters in Russia! I love building things with my own two hands – I built together all the furniture I have in my apartment. I painted the walls of my room in Salzburg and also tried installing the hardwood floors, but I was kind of bad at it, so my dad made up a reason why I shouldn’t help him out anymore.

 

In my spare time I enjoy reading books, watching TV shows and all sorts of movies. I’m a big fan of Sci-Fi and fantasy movies. I also like playing video games, for example, Bioshock 2 & Infinite, Borderlands 1 & 2, Baldur's Gate 2, Command and Conquer: Red Alert, Hearthstone, Pokémon, etc. I love science and science-related documentaries. I guess that I’m what people would refer to as a “nerd”, but apparently being a nerd is cool nowadays, so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

I also do a lot of sports, even though my figure doesn’t show. I play football at least once a week and I go swimming, hiking and running. Soon I’m going to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow at the USI (Universitätssportinstitut). I’m really looking forward to that. Well, since time is precious, I’m going to stop right here. I hope you enjoyed reading my very first blog – and if not, here’s a video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbrUNuWGxGQ

Who am I?

Hey guys!

Who am I?

Personally, I think it is very difficult to explain my personality and life story in just one text.

Sardinia, Italy

However, let’s start from the beginning. My name is Sabrina. I am 20 years old and I study Italian, Russian and English as I want to work as an interpreter after graduation.

The easiest way to describe myself is probably through my zodiac sign, as I would consider myself a very stereotypical Aries. I am quick-tempered, impulsive, impatient, open-minded, energetic and determined; and I talk all the time and too much - my boyfriend calls me his biggest challenge :D.

I have been passionate about languages and other cultures ever since I can remember, so the question about what to study after school wasn’t very difficult to answer. That’s why almost three years ago I decided to study Italian and Russian and I’m about to finish my bachelor degree this year - by the way, it was the best decision ever: I fell in love with these languages more than I have ever expected and I would like to speak them both all day :)). Last semester I thought it’d be fun to add English to my studies. Long story cut short – you will probably see me at the ITAT all the time, as the decision to study three languages turned the institute into my „second home“ ;).



Kiev, Ukraine

However, although there is only little time left for leisure activities, there are other things which I am passionate about. I love travelling – I am blaming my father for turning me into a wanna-see-everything kind of person: during my childhood we visited a lot of countries all over the world; amongst others also 14 US-states. So one could probably say that my sister and I were “taught” to be interested in every kind of “hardcore-sightseeing” ;). In addition to that I love drawing and reading and do pole dance. When I was younger I also used to write and participate in competitions, but ever since I started university and due to a lack of time I express my writing „only“ by writing stories in the foreign languages I study. 



Preikestolen, Norway

I am very interested in politics and could easily discuss what is going on in the word and why for hours - especially, I am interested in the War in Ukraine and in Russia, as I have a lot of friends in the Ukraine and in Russia. I get angry when people talk about things they do not understand or know quite fast. This being said, it obviously doesn’t mean that I understand and know everything – to be honest I think quite the opposite is the case. I got to know so much different point of views, that I became aware of the fact that nobody can know anything exactly. This often raises questions which I tend to think about quite a lot, like: To what extent are we able to know what is actually happening or has happened? Which statements and “facts” that we hear about are actually the truth? Is there, in general, something like “a” truth? Is there more than one truth? And if not, does this mean that there’s only one truth which leads to many twisted imitations of it? As I spent a semester abroad in Russia last year I was able to experience and get to know a completely different ideology and a different view of historical events of the past (and present). It was an interesting experience for me to see things from another point of view and it particularly changed me in one specific aspect: I think more precisely about everything and try to shed light on different aspects and point of views. Truth be told, I wish more people would do that. Who has the right to judge on whether something is wrong or right? Exactly – nobody! As you might guess, I obviously still have my own political opinion – and to be perfectly honest it’s a quite strong one – which makes it difficult to have a discussion with me ;) Even so, I usually think twice before saying anything and know when to pursue an argument but also when to listen and consider other opinions as well.

So this is it – this is basically everything that came to my mind for now. I hope you enjoyed reading and I am looking forward to hearing about your stories as well.



Who am I?

WHO AM I?

Hey guys :) 

My name is Tanja and I am 22 years old. I am from Graz and I’ve been living here my whole life. However, I would like to go and live some time abroad after finishing university. I love visiting foreign countries and getting to know different cultures. I’ve already been to many places like México, London, New York and Cuba, just to name a few. 

Before starting with “Transcultural Communication” I’ve been studying Archaeology for more than 3 years by now because I've been into the ancient Greek and Roman culture since my childhood. However, after getting some experience in field work I found out that becoming an Archaeologist was not what I wanted for my future. That’s why decided to change subject and do something I really like and what in my opinion I am quite good at: culture and languages. Since I’ve been having English lessons since 3^rd form of elementary school and also did one English and a few Spanish language courses at “treffpunkt sprachen” before I even started with “TKK” the choice of English and Spanish as my languages wasn’t a hard one. Furthermore I am a huge fan of London and Great Britain overall and highly interested in South and Central American cultures (not only their current but also the culture of the ancient Mayas, Aztecs and Incas) which made this decision even easier. 

Besides travelling and languages my biggest hobby ever is dancing. Not that type of dancing which you usually do in clubs and discos, I’m talking about ballroom dancing (like ChaChaCha, Waltz, Jive, Tango and so on). I’ve been attending a dancing school for more than 6 years and go dancing about 3 times a week. I’m in the highest course of my dancing school now and although I’ve already learned a lot and really want to continue dancing, participating in tournaments is no option for me. On the one hand I would probably lose my passion for it due to the hard conditions of training and the rival atmosphere at competitions and on the other hand I just don’t have the time for intensive training 5 to 6 times a week.

  My favourite dance, however, is Salsa :)