Publicitate

Ştiri 100% studenţeşti

19-year-old student contemplating death

Oana-Cristina Butta

“The first year of university was awful at first. I used to drink dozens of cups of coffee every day and then take lots of pills so I could go to sleep. I cried all the time and I kept telling myself that I wanted to go back home. I feel slightly better now, but there are still times when I get sick and tired of everything and I find myself thinking that I can't go on like this.”

Maria is a 19-year-old art student in Bucharest, who like others interviewed for this article asked that their full names not be used. However, her feelings are shared by a substantial number of first-years who have a hard time adjusting to university life. Leaving the safety and comfort of one's home turns out to be a challenge that not all youngsters can cope with.

Maria looks at the future with uncertainty. “I hardly know what to expect from the second year. Some people tell me things will be easier then, but I'm worried that I won't be able to study everything in due time. We've got lots of subjects and the courses never seem to be long enough for us to study everything. For each course, I have to study countless extra hours. It's a real pain in the neck; I don't know if I'll be able to handle it.”

Ana, a 20-year-old law student, is going through a similar experience. “When I first moved to Bucharest, I used to cry for days on end. I fancied that everyone looked down on me, I couldn't fit in and I felt ugly and stupid.”



Her depression led to more serious problems. “Once, I cried so much that I got sick in the end. I got dizzy, the room spun round and everything went black. I freaked. I thought I was going to die. Then I caught myself wondering if that would be such a bad thing.”

Eventually, Ana managed to overcome her depression with the help of a psychologist. “It cost me a fortune, but it was well worth it. Things became a lot easier after I realized that the problem was mostly in my head.”

Of course, many students handle the move away from home just fine. Cybernetics student Bogdan Chitulescu, 20, hardly had any trouble adjusting to his new life. “My parents told me from the start, 'Go to Bucharest and study all you can; then, you can become someone'. And so I did. The only time I felt a bit stressed was during the mid-terms, when I had to learn several hundred pages by heart. I didn't die from it though.”

Chitulescu feels that he was quite lucky. “I loved university life from day one. Others didn't. I remember that, on the very first day I moved to the boarding house, a freshman locked himself in his room a few hours after his folks left and started to shout that he wanted to go home.

Another one threw himself out the window, thinking that his girlfriend, who still lived his home town, would leave him now that he had gone away to study. He landed in a shrubbery, so he didn't break anything.”

How concerned should the authorities be about depression among first years? Family doctor Clara Raescu said it was natural for students living alone for the first time to feel confused and overwhelmed. It was also common for them to feel a little sad at moving away from home.

“It's normal for youngsters to feel at loss once they move out on their own. For many of them, this is their first contact with the hardships of life. Still, most teenagers manage to overcome this depression eventually. Those who don't should seek help from a psychiatrist or a friend before things get worse,” she said.

“It's very important for students to realize that they're neither the first nor the last to deal with this issue. Moving away from home, living on your own or with people you've never met before, studying several hundred pages more than you were used to do – none of these is the end of the world.”

Ultimul număr tipărit (mai 2007, format PDF):