Riti Ly Lukk: European Languages and Cultures MA programme compliments my interests

After completing her bachelor's degree at the University of Tartu, Riti Ly knew she wanted to continue her studies here. "I chose the European Languages and Cultures programme because it offered a curriculum with many choices for different courses that suited all my interests – language, literature, and culture," she explained.

Since Riti Ly was born and raised in Tartu, she has a special connection with this city. In her opinion, it is also a great place for students as it has plenty of city life, cafes and museums, and outdoor spaces such as parks and the River Emajõgi. In addition, Tartu is small enough, so that many places are within walking distance from the campus. She also praised the supportive study environment that concentrates on students' well-being: "The Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures and other humanities buildings are situated right in the city centre and near the old town, which is a gorgeous, peaceful, and culturally rich area. I have especially enjoyed all the cosy rooms and corners where students can study between classes in the different university buildings."

Riti Ly is pleased that she has been able to choose courses that benefit her thesis research. "I now know more about digital humanities, especially working with corpora and doing corpus-based research," she gave an example. Riti Ly also pointed out that there have been many opportunities to practice public speaking and giving presentations, which she sees as skills that will be helpful in the future.

An essential and mandatory part of the programme is practical training. According to Riti Ly, it helped to develop, among other things, her leadership, teamwork, time planning and intercultural communication skills: "I did half of my practical training as a peer tutor, supporting 1st-year students, which taught me a lot about the university and its structure. And the other half of my practical training as a conference assistant taught me about organizing an event with international guests."

After graduation, she plans to continue her studies and acquire another degree. "And I hope to bring together my two main passions – people and different types of texts," she concluded.