Anna Varga-Csajkás

I attended applied economics BSc course and as I felt it was only the first step to becoming an economist, I went on to study at the economic analyst master programme. (By now these two programmes have been replaced by our new undivided training: economic and financial mathematic analyst, integrating the topics that can be learnt at the two separate trainings – the ed.) Of course I did not feel even after the master programme that I knew everything, but I think this is how everyone feels when graduating.

I am glad I finished both programmes as the trainings were perfectly built on, and complemented each other. I wondered a lot what to do after graduation, whether I should stay or move to Budapest, finally, due to personal reasons, I decided to stay in Pécs and I have not regretted this at all. I had a small detour before my doctoral training; I was planning to be employed at an IT company, so I participated in training on informatics. Since I had always been interested in starting the PhD training, though, I started my studies first as a correspondence and then as a full-time student, this is how I ended up in the doctoral school of regional policy and economics, where I am a third year student now, and I also work in a research team.

It was of course not as simple at all as it sounds, I was thinking a lot about how to go on, in which direction. At the choice of the BSc training it was quite important that I had attended mathematics specialisation at secondary school, so I definitely wanted a place where I could use this knowledge. I finally decided on business studies, and since I was much more interested in economics than in social sciences, I chose theoretical training.

Besides this, music has always been a part of my life – we founded our first band as secondary school students. We all liked singing, making music and dancing, and we had good foundation for these as we attended music school. Several boy schoolmates founded bands at that time, and visiting their concerts encouraged us to do the same. We, girls cooperated and wanted to show that we could make it too. We simply wanted to experience our creativity, and this has remained the same since then. Making music gives me a kind of freedom besides the more rigid researcher work, and so I cannot even imagine that music and the band are not parts of my life.

Of course, it is not easy by far to make these meet. As all band members have grown up, they study or work, rehearsals usually happen at late night or weekends. In the last 2-3 years we have consciously limited the number of our shows to one per month the most, as not one of us could keep up with that pace. It is unbelievable how much my musical experiences fill me up with energy, no matter if it is concert at a festival or the process of creation itself.

The only thing I am sorry about is not having been a more active part of university life. This was evidently because I had always a lot of other things to do, like music and other hobbies, still it is a pity that I did not work in one student union and did not participate in a national student conference, either. I think these opportunities should be used, especially as I can see a growing number of things at the university that can promote your career, things that you should use.