Katie Jaroszewicz

Year: Fourth

Subject: Spanish and Portuguese
Where are you from: Opole, Poland

Best thing about your course?

I love my degree and I love being in Oxford, but the best thing about studying languages has to be the year abroad! I spent seven months interning in Spain and five months volunteering in Portugal. I managed to visit some truly incredible places and made amazing friends, and I absolutely cannot wait to go back!

How do you cope with the workload?
A literature degree involves a lot of reading but I’ve found it very enjoyable. I try to do a little something every day and visit the college library, or other university libraries (the Taylorian Institute has a gorgeous reading room), where I find I focus really well, when I have a lot of reading before a tutorial. Apart from tutorial essays, we have translation exercises and other homework for language classes, so every week I list all my deadlines and plan out the work I’m going to do each day – and I try to include something fun like watching a talk show or a series in Portuguese.

What do you do when you’re not working?
I try to make the most of Oxford’s many events and go to film screenings, discussion groups and student plays, there is always so much to choose from.

Favourite place to eat?
Typically, our kitchen, as I live in Holywell Street and usually eat in with my flatmates. I’m also a big fan of Hall food, and of the Gloucester Green market.

What do you do in the holidays?
Since I’m an international student, I usually go home to spend time with my family and visit friends from school. But I’ve been able to travel a bit as well – after my first year, I went to Lisbon for a month for a language course, and in second year I went back to Portugal during the Easter vacation and spent a few weeks helping out at an organic farm.