Czas wolny - Leisure Time

Each one of us has their favourite pastime, something one can enjoy doing. I have a hobby too. Some years ago I did not have any favourite pastime, I was not interested in anything. I liked collecting stamps but it was not something I could call a great passion. Everything has changed after I went to a grammar school. I began to like Polish. Actually I have always been keen on writing essays and reading books. During my summer holidays I bought a small book which has changed my life, it was French conversations. Step by step I learnt a new vocabulary and phrases. Moreover, after having spent my holidays in France, I knew what I wanted to do in my life. I found out that communicating with people from all over the world can be great and that is why I decided to be an interpreter and translator. Well, foreign languages are my passion. In the future I would like to become a polyglot. I know that a good command of foreign languages will be useful once Poland joins the European Union where I would like to work. I devote all my free time to learning French and English but I intend to learn Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish and even Chinese. I need to study them just like one needs air to breathe.

Apart from foreign languages I like reading books, collecting phone cards and as everyone at my age I listen to the music. Music makes me forget about my problems, it takes me to a different world. It is obvious that I like meeting my friends, going to parties and having a good time.

If it rains, I read books or I watch television. When the weather is fine, especially in summer, I like walking, cycling, and spending my time in the open. Summer is the greatest time to go abroad where one can discover a foreign country and practice one's language. As for me I like as well visiting different places, bathing at sea and sunbathing on the beach.

In conclusion I would like to say that it is advisable to have a hobby, to be interested in something, to have an aim and enjoy oneself. I love my life because I have found my aim, all the more so since I have several souls - Polish, French and English - my great passions that make my life complete because as Johann Wolfgang Goethe said: 'A man who does not know any foreign languages, does not know himself.'

[Arkadiusz Szymczak]