{"id":90768,"date":"2023-08-14T09:17:10","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T07:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/?p=90768"},"modified":"2023-08-14T09:19:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T07:19:23","slug":"interview-with-veterinary-student-tekla-varga-i-want-to-be-like-my-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/2023\/08\/interview-with-veterinary-student-tekla-varga-i-want-to-be-like-my-mother\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with veterinary student Tekla Varga: \u201eI want to be like my mother\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Family, relatives, friends. These were the key things fourth-year veterinary student Tekla Varga first mentioned in our conversation. It felt great to listen to her talking about the environment her life started from and the path she has walked leading to the profession of her heart, with her mother’s encouragement and the help she got from her father and sister. She also found a vet who took her in his confidence, allowing her to stay in his surgery and get familiar with the daily practice and the alternatives of what she was learning at school. Her work for the Student Council is for leisure and recreation. In the meantime, she gathers the data for her paper at the Student Research Society. Here’s an extract of our interview with her.<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/a>\u2013 I was born in Budapest, but I have ties to Ad\u00e1cs through my family, relatives and friends. My mother works as a primary school secretary while my father is a real jack-of-all-trades. There’s no task or problem he can’t do or solve. I also have a sister who is 8 years older than me. As a teacher, she works with first-year pupils at a primary school. She is fully dedicated to her profession. Even in our childhood, we have always been very close. As a token of her trust, she has just asked me to be her witness at her wedding. We both believe our mother is also one of our best friends.<\/p>

\u2013 Which decision did you make first? To choose your secondary school or to become a vet?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 The latter. Even as a child, I knew I was going to work with animals and the idea of being involved in healing them came to my mind soon, too. My grandmother often retells the story that as soon as I finished my homework after school, I ran out to the yard to play with their dog, Bobi. In retrospect, I always felt calm and relaxed whenever I was surrounded by animals. As a result, I easily fell in love with biology and chemistry at Berze Nagy J\u00e1nos Grammar School in Gy\u00f6ngy\u00f6s.<\/p>

\u2013 Were you admitted on your first try to the University?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 Unfortunately, I wasn’t. I was just below the threshold by a few points, which was my first big disappointment in life. As a matter of fact, I don’t know what I would’ve done if my mother hadn’t been by my side. She told me not to give up my dream and not to even enrol to the programme of my second choice, because she saw and knew I was born for this profession. She and my whole family fully supported me. So the next year, two of my girlfriends, who were walking in the same shoes, and I got our act together once again to retake the A-levels. I’ve never felt happier about a text message than the one that came the next summer, saying: \u201cYou have been admitted to the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest\u201d.<\/p>

\u2013 How was your \u201centry\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 All smooth and seamless. I already found my place and my little group in the freshers’ camp. I met No\u00e9mi Madar\u00e1sz<\/strong> there. We became roommates and we scored a real \u201chat-trick\u201d when Franciska Barn\u00e1cz<\/strong> joined us in the room. All the three of us are student council members and volunteer for jobs, each in our own area.<\/p>

\u2013 What’s your job?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 As a member of the Student Council’s Cultural Committee, I organize various events as well as the Equus parties. Of course, this task is for more than one person, just like all the other events are conducted by a group of people.\u00a0 Besides organizing these events, you also need to act as a supervisor at times, take a responsible decision and notify your helpers. None of this can happen at the expense of studying or practicals, however. Attaining your degree has the priority after all.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>

\u2013 What was the biggest surprise for you during your studies?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 At first, I didn’t think that, just after 2-3 semesters completed, I could talk so freely with Dr. Gyula Major<\/strong> who allowed me to do \u201cthe surgery experience\u201d at his clinic. As time goes on, he shows me more and more of his work and entrusts me with more and more tasks.<\/p>

\u2013 How did you develop this connection with the doctor?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 I was a fresher when I started calling nearby clinics to find out if they were willing to host students who wanted to gain experience. I was rejected almost everywhere, usually on the grounds of the pandemic. It just so happened that one of our dogs became pregnant at that time. On a December day, the birth began, so No\u00e9mi and I immediately hopped on a bus and went home to Ad\u00e1cs. Two of the puppies were born while we were on the road, but we already knew there was something wrong, and the second one died, sadly. That’s when we called Dr. Major and asked him what to do. He said if there was no change within an hour, we should take the dog to his surgery at once, and he would help us. We did so, and he allowed us to watch the C-section. I think he was probably satisfied that we were decent folks, and I would not just stay in his surgery and do nothing. After I while, he sent me a message saying: \u201cListen, you can come whenever you want, you’re welcome any time\u201d. To complete the story, though, none of the puppies stayed alive, but at least the mother survived the operation.<\/p>

\u2013 What kind of successes have you experienced in your studies?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 It’s always a memorable moment when Dr. Major puts the animal in my hands, shows me what I need to look at and then asks me what my diagnosis is. I feel happy when I can identify the disease exactly or when my opinion is very close.<\/p>

As a veterinary student, I find it fascinating that I can work on exciting tasks with our teachers. Under the supervision of PhD student Dr. Gerg\u0151 Keve<\/strong> at the Department of Parasitology and Zoology, I’m writing a paper for the Student Research Society about Hyalomma marginatum ticks. I collect tick samples from horses and cattle, while a fellow student collects them from birds.<\/p>

\u2013 Do you have any role models?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 Yes. More than one, actually. As a future vet, my current role model is always the one I’m learning from. If you’re asking what kind of a human being I want to become, my mother is my role model, of course. If you look at how much people do for their families, I must mention my father and sister.<\/p>

\u2013 Have you ever thought about where you want to work?<\/strong><\/p>

\u2013 I am primarily attracted to small animal care. I think that’s where<\/strong> I could find myself the most. But I’m very interested in cattle, too! In general, I envision my future working somewhere near Budapest, but I have not committed myself yet.<\/p>

 <\/p>

Guszt\u00e1v Bal\u00e1zs<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family, relatives, friends. These were the key things fourth-year veterinary student Tekla Varga first mentioned in our interview. Her work for the Student Council is for leisure and recreation. In the meantime, she gathers the data for her paper at the Student Research Society. Read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2518,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/univet.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}