The first one started at Uni. I was a student of 2nd course already bored to study.

My life was all about chilling between exams, but I couldn't do chilling too long - I started feeling depressed. You know, there are such kind of strange people????

My BFF Dinara once told me I was an idiot wasting my life in vain.
Totally for
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It was sooooo offending!

Man!!!

But that anger kicked my ass somehow. After a few days of thinking I came up with an idea of the club. That's when my first-first time was.

That was something that drove me whole summer, so in September I completed my portfolio, the program & concept of the club and approached the Dean.

She was very suspicious about me and an idea of the club, too. In fact, she was new and had just started working on her Dean position that year.

«I don't know you,» - she said.

«We don't know you either yet,» - I replied. I was much braver when I was younger ????

«Why are you doing this?» - she asked.

I answered honestly that I was bored and had a choice to finally start doing something.

And added at the end that if I didn't do it, probably I would start taking drugs or drinking to kill time - which was unlikely to happen, but she got anxious.

And she approved the club.

I named it "Union Jack English Language Admirers' Club". Such a long long name! Sounded very royal to me.

The first meeting was supported by our English teacher - he was told to do that. There were all my group mates who actually were not interested too much, and Dean's son from the first course - a spy.

The meeting went well. I was prepared, all was just fine.

But no one showed up to the second meeting. And I was sitting on the desk shaking my legs and waiting.

I waited for an hour. Thinking. And I realised that nobody knew about UJ club except me and my group mates.

Before the third meeting I sticked notes on the Uni's walls - all over the place. Very basic marketing, I would say. Just "Come along to speak".

And no one showed up again.

I was again sitting on the desk, thinking. Good things take time, they say. Do they?

I called my friend. And he brought his friends for the fourth meeting. Some random ones.

Some people showed up thanks to my bright pink notes on the Uni walls - that time I mention I had hot tea & cookies)))

Then I realized that I needed a team to manage the club.

I chose 3 people from our Foreign Languages Faculty and offered them to become a part of my team. And all of them agreed for some reason.

So we recorded a radio ad, started our campaigns in social nets and brought some foreigners.

We grew up. Average number of participants was 20, weekly.

But true success was that teachers started to come to our practices.

UNI TEACHERS!

For that reason almost all my exams were passed without taking them. I just would come to the teacher asking to put me "excellent" or "good" - and they would do it. Though, I should also thank my hosting all the faculty concerts, first prizes at conferences and the fact that Dean had the highest rating thanks to our club, too.

It was a happy time, truly.
On my last year I started working at Ford company, performing club meetings every two weeks on Saturdays.

And after graduation I closed the club, thinking, that was my first and last time - I grew up, headed into a new life full of career choices and marriage and kids as I thought & hoped.

But something went wrong.