My expectations from Central European University have been more than fulfilled! On the one hand, I had expectations concerning the academic work, and on the other hand, I was hoping to have the opportunity to exchange experiences with colleagues at CEU and to gain a network of contacts.

The academic part of it exceeded all my expectations. When I got there and saw the curriculum and the names of professors who will teach this year, I could not believe that I will have the opportunity to listen to lectures from such experts. Not only that they are widely recognized and acclaimed, but these are the people we really had the chance to learn a lot from and to exchange experiences with, because what adorns these seminar groups to which we were assigned during our lectures is the interactive aspect of these courses where you really exchange experiences with professors, which I have not had the opportunity to experience previously. As for the part that refers to the network of people and contacts, I met colleagues from over a hundred countries, from whom I had the chance to hear and learn a lot.

The new experience for me was certainly living in a student dormitory. Socializing in the dorm is amazing – in a way, you can always be by yourself, yet if you want some company it is enough to get off a few floors below. The kind of student life I imagined during my high school while watching American college movies, I have definitely experienced at CEU. Of course, it was balanced between studying and having fun, because there are still people there who want to improve themselves academically. I won’t even begin writing about the fun we had in the kitchen while cooking dishes coming from America, Japan and many other places from all over the world. In the campus, we had conditions like in a hotel, given the fact that we had a pool and a gym, a basketball court, we could play table tennis, foosball, and many other activities.

The system of work at CEU was totally different from ours due to the fact that it utilizes the American system of work. The difference is primarily in the number of students, classes are taught in small seminar groups. Another advantage is certainly that all students had access to databases from the CEU library. There is a possibility that, in the event that the library does not have a requested book, CEU borrows it another library. At CEU there is a possibility of obtaining funds for carrying out research, which I used to get funding to travel to the International Court of Justice Library in Hague.

I would advise students who wish to apply to CEU to take advantage of all the benefits that exist in Serbia, such as the Belgrade Open School, where it is possible to schedule individual consultations regarding the application to CEU.