Yevhen Pakhmutov, a master's student majoring in Translation (Modern Greek) at Mariupol State University, studied at the Kapodistria National University of Athens for a semester. The internship lasted from February to July 2020 within the framework of the Erasmus+ international credit mobility program.

The program brought together young people from East and West to strengthen friendly relations and acquaintance with European culture, including Greece, which is considered the cradle of Western civilization.

At the University of Athens, students improved their knowledge of the language, history and culture of the Greeks. The high level of proficiency in Greek allowed Yevhen Pakhmutov to study for a master's program and study historical linguistics, morphology and syntax on the same level with native speakers. According to the young man, learning a foreign language in a different system contributed to the development of flexibility of thinking, learning and implementation of new knowledge.

The MSU student gained useful skills and experience not only in classrooms, but also while living with international students.

The main, in my opinion, were the development and improvement of communication skills in the English and Greek languages with representatives of different peoples and cultures. During the program, I had to communicate a lot with foreign students, and with some of them I lived together. Therefore, in my opinion, the experience of coexistence with other people became extremely useful.

The young people had to get acquainted with the city and the country in quarantine conditions, but this did not prevent them from having a good time. Yevhen attended both general student events and specially organized for the participants of the program: hikes, trips to the islands, parties that allowed him to immerse himself in the culture.
 

The trip to Agistri Island was the most vividly remembered. I had never been to the islands before. The atmosphere there is calm and measured, which differs a lot from the noisy and eternally rushing continent. 

During his studies, Yevhen took midterm and control exams, which took the form of defense of abstracts, written assignments and oral interviews. Upon completion of the program, the MSU student received a certificate.

Studying at the University of Athens is not Yevhen’s first internship in Greece, but the longest. Last year, the boy spent a month in Thessaloniki, where he improved his Modern Greek at the International Summer School.
 

Along with last year's study in Thessaloniki, this trip was one of the most memorable and impressive experiences of my life, which gave me incredible memories and acquaintances. It's nice to know that you now have friends on the other side of the world, with whom you sat together at night preparing for exams, and the next day conquered the slopes of the mountains. And although quarantine had become an issue for many plans, but the impressions are still extremely positive.