Oh hello dearerst reader,

You probably ended up on this page because my humble life may be to any interest to you. Or you are just really bored and are scrolling trough the Abacus website, just as I did before my board year. Either way sit down and relax, I will try to entertain you with my unique lifestory.

On a snowy Saturday on the 27th of January in 1996 I was born in a hospital in the large town Donetsk in Ukraine. I was a tiny (or actually not so tiny) worm at that moment, so I don't remember much of the beautiful day, but it explains a lot why I like snow so much. Until January 2002 I was living with my parents and grandparents in a big Soviet building, where I have been raised and taught the basics of life, such as speaking, walking, eating properly, reading and playing draughts (no kidding, my grandpa taught me). I enjoyed my life a lot there, but then we had to move to the Netherlands. When my parents told me that we would move to a random city called 'Haarlem', I was flabbergasted. How could we move away from our home?! But it was for the best.

When we came here I only knew how to say in Dutch 'Hello, my name is Mariya and I come from Ukraine.' At least it's something for a 6-year-old! As soon as possible my parents sent me to a school for foreign kids where I learned to speak Dutch. After a year it was time for me to go to a primary school nearby our new home. I finished it with ease and went to Gymnasium Felisenum in Velsen-Zuid.

My first years of highschool were quite easy. I had very smart kids in my class, so you didn't want to fall behind with everyone. After a couple of years I encountered courses which I completely disliked or I wasn't good at at all. And then the realisation came: I am a mathematician who likes langagues waaaaayyyy too much. This made making a choice for my future studies a little difficult, because these two fields are completely apart from each other. After a long and thorough search for a future, I finally made a decision: with Mathematics I can at least get a job, so let's do that. Up until now I have not regretted this decision.

Oh about my choice for the UT: that was really easy, because this university has lots of trees, a Tee-huis, a good atmosphere and very nice people walking around. So yeah.

When I first came here, I was blown away by the whole student life and all the new things that go together with it. Many 'old-cocks' have convinced me to get involved with Abacus and so I did. I have been in many committees and made a lot of new friends here. After a very very long period of drawbacks and doubts, it was finally time to make the decision to give Abacus back what it has given me in the past three years - ad what's a better way to do it other than joining the board of W.S.G. Abacus???

And so I am here. Sitting in the room, listening to relaxing music. Tired, but happy about the past year. I hope I have given you a little more insight in my life. If you still want to know more about me, don't hesitate to drop by the Abacus room, I will probably stick around there next year, and we will drink a cup of coffee (or tea) over it!

Kindest regards,

Mariya Karlashchuk