Student life, is it the best life ever?

VILNIUS - It is said that student life is the best life ever. In general, when people want to get back their best memories, almost all of them are student memories: a time when you don’t have worries, when you meet a lot of new people and find friends for the rest of your life, or have crazy and funny parties. But what do students inVilnius think about their student life?
Vilius Ellikas is in the first year of Masters in Telecommunications, Physics and Electronics studies. His opinion about student life is very clear. “Student time is the best ever! But life is getting better and better, it’s just the beginning of good things that wait for us. I hope I will be able to say the same after 30 years.”

A similar opinion comes from Sandra Petkute, a student in her second year of law. “I think these years in university are some of the most beautiful years of my life, because you have a lot of freedom, free time, you meet new friends, new events… After that, when you finish your studies and start to work everything is harder. These years are the best.” There are other students who enjoy the university life, but they wouldn’t like to keep being students all their lives.
This is the case of Audrone Skripkiunaite, student of law. “I would like to be a student for some years, but not forever. It’s not interesting to do the same thing all your life.  I want to use my knowledge in practice. I think it would be very interesting. Maybe difficult at the beginning, but more interesting than just studying at the university,” she says.

Vilnius has several universities, but the major one is Vilnius University. Moreover, thousands of students from different Lithuanian cities study here. But is this a good place to study? “Vilnius is a good place to study. For example, Vilnius offers a lot of cultural events. Here you can meet a lot of new and interesting people and friends,” Petkute says about Vilnius.
Skripkiunaite’s opinion is the same. “If we compare Vilnius with other Lithuanian cities, I think that Vilnius is the best place for students because there are a lot of ways to spend your free time. People who like theaters can visit many of Vilnius’ theaters with interesting performances. People who like parties can go to clubs and so on. In other Lithuanian cities you wouldn’t find so many places to go,” she explains.

One of the most famous myths about student life is the parties. A lot of people think that students are always very ‘busy’ with parties and they don’t have time to do other things, as for instance, study. Students have a similar opinion about this issue.
“A good student can mix these two things, find time to have parties and to study. I think almost all of the students do this,” Petkute says and Skripkiunaite confirms this point of view, with some nuances. “For me the most important thing is to learn something, which will be useful for my future, so of course I study. Parties are a part of the student’s life, but if you want you can find time not only for parties. But this is a choice and there are students who associate the word ‘student’ only with the word ‘party.’

But there is one thing which every student hates, the examination period, when the only word that they have in their heads is ‘study.’
One important debate between students is where to live. They can choose between the hall of residences for students or a flat. There are different opinions on this point, some of them support the flat and the other ones the dormitories. For example, Ellikas has been living in a dormitory since he started his degree, and he is delighted. “Definitely, the dormitory is better than the flat. In the dormitory you can meet many new and strange people who give you the opportunity to find new friends; I made my best friends here, and you learn how to live according to other, different people.” However, Petkute decided to live in a flat with other students. “My friends recommended for me to live in a flat. I wanted to have my own space and do everything that I want. For me it’s very hard to work with noise and in a dormitory; there are a lot of parties, although the most real student life is maybe in a dormitory.”

Overall, Lithuanian students in general are very happy with their student lives and although they like parties, the myth that students only have parties is not the whole reality, because they do study. So, Lithuania can be sure that the current students will be good workers in the future.