Hello from Daniela, the new intern from Austria

Всем привет!
My name is Daniela, I was born and raised in Austria — Croatian by nationality but my roots are in Bosnia and Herzegowina. I finished my Bachelor’s degree in the field of translation and interpreting with English and Russian as my first and second foreign language, respectively. I am happy to announce that I will be interning at Liden&Denz in St. Petersburg for the next 3 months.
My passion for learning foreign languages started at the age of 16 when I spent three weeks in the United States of America. After I graduated from high school I knew right away that I wanted to study English. I had to choose a second foreign language and it took me some time to decide between Spanish and Russian — eventually, I chose Russian, mainly because I have always loved the sound of the Russian language. However, I made a promise to myself that after I reach the same level in Russian as I have in English, I will dedicate my time to learning Spanish.
I was quite familiar with Russian culture before, since we had a lot of classes in university, but experiencing a culture and just reading about it are two completely different worlds. It has only been a week since I arrived and I feel like I have already learned so much more about Russian people and their culture. People here are so welcoming, kind and helpful and St. Petersburg is an incredible city. Its diversity, its multifaceted architecture and its location by the water is what makes it a truly astonishing city.
I decided to come to Russia, because I wanted to improve my speaking skills before starting my master’s degree. When it came to preparing for this trip, I actually put an emphasis on expanding my vocabulary, because I planned on using English as little as possible in everyday life but fight my way through with Russian instead. What I expect from my experience here is to feel confident when speaking Russian, to meet awesome new people and to make the most out of my stay here.
I would like to finish this introductory post about myself with three of my favorite quotes:
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.” ― Pascal Mercier
Daniela is currently studying Russian at the Liden & Denz Language Centre in St. Petersburg.