Words and expressions

1. Finance Law Department

2. Law School

3. academic year

4. classes

5. to attend lectures regularly

6. (not) to miss

7. to have a shower

8. to dress

9. to brush hair

10. to have breakfast (dinner, supper)

11. toasted bread

12. fried eggs

13. hostel

14. it takes me ... minutes to get to the...

15. to take notes

16. twice a year we take our exams

17. to do something meaningful in the adult world

I study at the Finance Law Department of the Belarus Law School. I want to be a lawyer. Our academic year begins in September. We have our classes in the morning. I attend lectures regularly. I do not miss my lectures and seminars.

On weekdays I usually get up at 7 o’clock and do my morning exercises. Then I have a shower, get dressed, brush my hair and have breakfast. For breakfast I usually have toasted bread, fried eggs and tea or coffee.

I live in the hostel. It is not very far from the Institute. It takes me 10 minutes to get there. Our lessons begin at half past eight. I go to the classroom, take my books and notebooks out of the bag and put them on the desk. We have lectures and practical lessons every day.

We study the law and judiciary, computer programming, economics, civil law, criminal law, the theory of business, history and some other subjects. We take notes at our lectures and prepare for our practical lessons at home. At our seminars we discuss different questions concerning law and judiciary. It is not easy to study law, but we do our best. Twice a year we take our exams in different aspects of law and other subjects. We should prepare for our exams carefully. We try to work hard because we are eager to do something meaningful in the adult world.

After classes I go home and have dinner and a short rest. I am not fond of television, but sometimes I like to watch an interesting film. Before falling asleep I have supper, read books or listen to music. Usually I go to bed at 11 o’clock.

B) My working day.

Words and expressions.

1. a freshman

2. housing

3. opportunities

4. to rent a flat

5. to share my room with another boy

6. to turn on (off) the radio

7. to leave the house

8. to pass my exams successfully

9. occasionally I have to stay at the Institute till...

Hi, nice to meet you all.

My name is Nick Ivanov. I am a freshman at the Institute of Law. My parents live in Gomel, but I decided to study in Minsk, so I needed some housing. There were two opportunities for me: I could live in a students hostel or rent a flat. I decided to rent a room. To make the rent smaller, I also decided to share my room with another boy. He studies at the Institute too and he is my best friend now.

Now let me describe my usual working day. My classes begin at 8.30. So on weekdays I have to get up at 7. 15. I don’t have an alarm clock and usually my roommate wakes me up and my working day begins.

I turn on the radio and do my morning exercises while he takes a shower. Then I take a cool shower, brush my teeth. After that I go back to our room and get dressed. I brush my hair and have breakfast. I love to listen to the latest news on the radio while I am eating. We leave the house around 8 and walk to the nearest bus stop. We live rather close to the Institute and it usually takes us about 10-15 minutes to get there by bus. The classes begin at 8. 30 in the morning and they end at 2 p.m.. We have lectures in different subjects. As a rule we have three or four classes a day. Sometimes it is very hard to wait till they end. Usually I don’t miss my classes because I want to pass my exams successfully. Occasionally I have to stay at the Institute till 5 or even 6 o’clock because I go to the library to get ready for my classes or to write a report. By the end of the week I get very tired.

At about 7 o’clock we have supper together and share the news. After supper we wash dishes, drink coffee and watch TV. At about 11 at night I go to bed. I like to read something before going to bed. It calms me down after a long day.