Hello Dear All!
My name is Iva Petermanec, and I come from Čakovec, a town which is located nearby the capital of Croatia, Zagreb.
I am 25 years old, and this is my first year of applying for an Erasmus project. Initially, I studied Croatian Language and Literature and Pedagogy at the University of Rijeka for the first three years, which is where I earned my bachelor’s degree. I decided to change my educational direction and moved to another city, Zagreb, to earn a master’s degree. So, now I’m studying Pedagogy and Phonetics (specialization: Rehabilitation of hearing and speaking) at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. I am completing the final semester of my degree studies and I am going to defend my master’s thesis in February 2024.
I decided to apply for the Erasmus internship because I always wanted to live abroad for a certain period of my life. Spain provided me a lot of opportunities because now I can learn Spanish language from native speakers. I speak English and German, and I also studied Macedonian for one year.
I am an open-minded and curious person, and I like traveling a lot. I visited Hungary, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Turkey etc. This year I also visited Spain and it was love at first sight. In that moment I knew that was it! I told myself: “This is the country where I want to go for my Erasmus internship.”
I volunteered in a lot of associations, such as Sun in Zagreb, which cares for children with autism. I worked as a teaching assistant in an elementary school in Zagreb, and I also worked at the SUVAG Polyclinic in Zagreb as a group rehabilitator for children with hearing and speech difficulties.
Working at the Enric Farreny Primary School in Lleida, I will gain knowledge on how to design a lesson and a lot more which is essential for the job of a pedagogue.
Not only will the children learn some facts about Croatia, but this experience will also enrich my knowledge about upbringing and education. I am proud to have this opportunity.
Želim i vama da ostvarite svoje snove. Nemojte se bojati neuspjeha jer će vas neuspjeh dovesti do uspjeha! – I wish that your dreams come true! Don’t be afraid of failure because failure will lead you to success!
Fondly,
Iva
