Belarusian recounts why he studied in Montenegro: Warsaw situation with chauvinism seemed unsettling

Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Photo: pelago.com

I'm from Belarus. My parents emigrated before the war in Ukraine, and I stayed there with my grandparents, hoping to finish school. But... freedoms were diminishing, and in 2022, almost all private schools — these so-called bastions of free thought, including the one I attended — closed down. Only a few private schools close to the authorities remained, as well as state schools with an enormous amount of propaganda. This was the last straw, and my parents started looking for options for me to continue my education abroad.

Initially, it was planned that I would go to school in Warsaw, where they lived. But there, the situation related to chauvinism seemed unsettling to us. So we found a school in Montenegro, oriented towards Russian-speaking emigrants, primarily those who fled repression.

For example, in my class of 35 people, 30 are those who left for political reasons.

From the first to the ninth grade, the school had a mix of Russian and Montenegrin curricula, and from the tenth grade, the International Baccalaureate (IB) program began. This is a very strong two-year program, effectively at the intersection of school and university. I had just finished nine grades in Belarus, and we decided to try the IB program.

To enroll, one had to pass mathematics and English. Since all instruction is in English, the language level must be B1-B2, and the exam itself consists of reading, listening, and an interview. Overall, on the one hand, the exams are quite difficult, but on the other hand, if they see your eagerness, they might accept you even with low scores. That's what happened with one boy: he failed the listening part, but they told him that if he improved it over the summer, they would accept him.

This school was different from all Belarusian schools I knew in almost every way.

Instead of lessons, there are pairs, and you create your own schedule. All subjects are grouped: mathematics, languages, arts — six groups in total, and you choose one compulsory subject from each. For each, you have to write large, almost scientific, papers. The approach, however, is completely different from what I was used to in Belarus. For example, in literature, as we were used to: they teach you to state a thesis and support it with a quote from the text. In the IB program, on the contrary, they teach you to take a quote and derive a thesis from it. This requires a deeper level of analysis and is closer to a university format.

And in general, the whole approach is like at university. Here, no one chases after you, no one reminds you about submission deadlines; if you mess something up, it's your problem.

All this serious program was superimposed on the Balkan ambiance and the culture of "polako" (from the Serbian word "polako", literally "slowly". — Ed. note) with its relaxed environment. After Belarusian school, it was very unusual that there was no tension either in studying or in communication. Everyone, in principle, doesn't worry and just lives life. Because of this, it was very difficult for me to fit in at first.

It's quite difficult to study seriously when it's +30 degrees Celsius in September and everyone around is relaxed. However, such an atmosphere also reduced the stress level.

The school had such an emigrant environment, where everyone supposedly shared similar fates, but at the same time, it was a diverse cocktail. Someone was from Novosibirsk, someone from Moscow, there were people from Sochi, several from Minsk. All this felt strange.

And although the boys and girls were good, for the first six months of my studies, I hardly communicated with anyone. I am shy by nature, find it hard to get along with people, plus there was the stress of moving. So for several months, my entire life was just home — school — home.

But our program stipulated that we not only study but also participate in volunteer and creative projects; this service was called CAS — creativity, activity, service. And whether you wanted to or not, you had to accumulate 50 hours each of creative, active, and volunteer activities. So first, I participated in the play "Alice in Wonderland". Then, with a Belarusian friend, we decided to organize a concert of Belarusian music, gathering songs from the 19th century to the present day. We ourselves played musical instruments and sang, and also invited other children. Some of them learned a bit of Belarusian thanks to their participation in the concert.

Many people came, and everyone positively received our idea. We collected a good sum from the concert, which we donated to Belarusian political prisoners.

And I finally managed to overcome the barrier — cultural, linguistic — and make friends.

Currently, I am a first-year student at Charles University in Prague, studying a social science track — philosophy, sociology. As far as I know, all my classmates enrolled in European universities. For myself, I can say it wasn't difficult: after our Montenegrin gymnasium, university feels like an easy stroll.

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