At the time, I had a great desire to enter the University. First, Id get a passing card. Therefore, with the card, Id have much more chance to come across Emre.
Now, I asked another question to the boy.
Are you going to enter the Masters?
Yeah, he smiled.
I can see now, I nodded. Which department?
Robotics. One more proud answer.
And are you from LETI as well?
But of course! And you?
Im not, I lowered my eyes. But Id love to be.
Come on! he laughed. Youll do it! Which department are you willing to enter?
Is there anything concerning Linguistics, Philology or, well, English studies?
Yes, there is. The Linguistics department.
Two months later
30 August 2021
Something incredible had happened. Indeed.
Since now, Id been a LETI student!!!
Let me tell you everything in detail, though. From the very beginning.
I had decided to stay in Saint Petersburg. I told my Mum, I feel this is for me. Id like to go on with my studies. Whats more, I can find a job there. Mum, I was saying in ecstasy, its a perfect, an awesome, opportunity, for me to proceed with both my career and my studies.
Mother agreed. If her daughter wants something (something thats not bad for the child, of course), she approves of it. So was this time.
Having rented a flat in the suburbs, I applied for entering the Masters program.
Judging by the exam requirements, I just had to read everything up. The theory concerning linguistics studies, the scientists names, and so on.
There were two exams the first was an English exam, the second being a linguistics one. All of them were to be held online, due to the Covid restrictions. Which was definitely an advantage for me. No, I didnt intend to cheat. Not at all. Just I felt more comfortable if I take an exam via web-camera. However, it was my first experience of sitting an online exam.
That was a problem, though. At the English exam, there was a software problem. As a result, I couldnt get access to my test questions at the beginning of the exam. So, I thought they simply wouldnt take my work into consideration!
I was in tears. What shall I do? I thought.
Was it the end of the world?
I contacted the board.
Were aware of the problem and therefore are doing everything to solve it, they wrote back.
That is, the other students had no access to their test either? My God, we were all in the same boat!
Ten or fifteen minutes later, the access was finally provided. Although it was an electrotechnical university, it had its own, technical issues. What about a university connected to the humanities? Are there philosophical problems arising? Seems like that.
I had forty-five minutes to complete the task. Actually, there must have been an hour for us to do the job: the machine is not a human. It wouldnt give us extra minutes, after all. However, due to the well-known circumstances, I had no choice but to adjust to the current exam time.
Thank God, I did it. Almost a hundred percent. Okay, not all the hundred percent. Ninety-eight. That wasnt bad either.
The linguistics exam was pretty easy. On the one hand.
On the other hand, you were interacting with a live person, not a machine. Therefore, he or she (in this case he) would ask you extra questions (or even grill you down) if your answer was unclear. Actually, in this case, Id got only one extra question: Could you please provide the board with more examples of idioms?
I had none!
As a result, I scored seventy-eight out of one hundred. Was it or wasnt it bad? That was the question.
So, my overall result was one hundred and seventy-six. Out of two hundred. Amazing!
I turned out the last in the list, though. There were outstanding students with a better score. I was grateful to the University I was admitted anyway! The last one isnt the worst one!
It was a great celebration for us all. For me especially. I couldnt believe it. I couldnt believe it. I couldnt believe it!
The only question was whether I should tell Emre about that or not. Well, maybe, not yet. As soon as he finds out the news, he might start avoiding me there, for whatever reason.
Why did I think like that? I didnt actually know! Perhaps, something unconscious was telling me that.
However eager to text the man I was, I couldnt do that. It was now the middle of August. I had a dilemma: to text or not to text.
Oh, my weak willpower! I chose the first option!
Me: Emre! Ive thought I should work on myself a lot. Im really selfish. What shall I do?
Emre: Well, I think youre a nice person. So nice that you can sometimes do stupid things.
My God! I didnt think hed say exactly that!
Me: Emre, howre you? Im really happy to hear this! Emre
Emre: What, Azi?
He had called me Azi! After everything, after all A weird man. A strange one. But the one whom I love most of all.
Me: Emre, first of all, I want to apologize. For everything Ive done and said.
Emre: Azi, why? You youre so pure in your heart! No need. Why?
Was it Emre?
A couple of months before, he had been saying the opposite
Frankly speaking, I understood very little. Emre was now praising me, whereas before he had been blaming me!
Or, maybe, he had always thought like that, and he had just hidden it from me for an unknown reason
Me: Emre, thank you very much! Howre you?
Emre: Not bad, not bad. Howre you, Azi? Have they called you? Have they accepted you for the job?
Me: No, they havent. But Im nonetheless happy.
Emre: Azi, whatre you doing?
Me: Err Nothing special. Just sitting in the park. What about you?
Emre: Im at home. The weather heres burning, so I decided to go nowhere but sit in my room.
Me: I can see now. Emre, I wanted to apologize. For everything. Im sorry.
Emre: Azi, you dont have to
Me: Ive been selfish, Emre. An egoïst.
Emre: Oh, Azi, please, dont say it. Youre a lovely person. And you perfectly know that. Do you know how many selfish people Ive met?
Me: I dont know, Emre
Emre: A million billion of such people. So, Azi, youre a very pure person. The purest person ever that I know. Youre not selfish. Not an egoïst. Okay?
Me: Okay.
Emre: You see now. So, howre you, Azi?
Strange it all was. It seemed like the episodes of our quarrelling had been put out of his mind forever. Like it had never happened.
Me: Im fine, thank you, Emre! Happy to hear youre all right too!
1 September 2021
My first class Called Communication Aspects in Linguistics. New theory. New seminars. Everything was new to me. Not to mention the groupmates and the teaching faculty.
And, of course, new impressions.
7 September 2021
As soon as I entered the University, a guy called Nadeem appeared on my way.
What year in LETI? What department?
And many more questions.
Nadeem was Indian. A big aquiline nose, glasses, a crazy look.
I didnt like the guy. Because he knew Emre. They studied in the same year, but different departments. Emre studied robotics, his enemy being a future programmer. In other words, a would-be hacker
10 September 2021
Would you like to meet? That was Nadeems offer.
Why should I? I shrugged my shoulders. I hardly even know you
It doesnt matter. Any man needs a woman at hand.
Indeed, indeed
Ive got a lot to do, I said.
Me too, my darling, the crazy man smiled. So, what about a cup of coffee in the evening?
Was he kidding, or what?
I turned round and left.
Think of my offer, my darling! Nadeem called after me.
I didnt even look back. Why should I?
13 September 2021
My darling, will you help me with my Russian homework? I speak Russian slowly. But now, I have you. You can help me.
Interesting, interesting
They had got to write an essay on why they had arrived to Russia. Was it so complicated to write out the reasons? For instance, Russia is a beautiful country. Or, well, youd like to try some new experience. Another one could be that Russian technical education can be recognized all over the world. Whats more Well, couldnt they think what to compose themselves?