to the intervention of a teacher, Preda was lent books and was able to complete the school year. When he could not find school supplies in his village, he borrowed textbooks from the neighbouring communes. With repeated pleas and insistence, he obtained a promise from his mother that she would convince his father to send him to a teaching academy. Between 1934 and 1937 he attended grades five to seven, being taught by Ion Georgescu from the neighbouring village of Balaci. The teacher would remember in his old age that the student Marin Preda "was a dreamer in the classroom", but that "he did well in writing", and that on a given topic about the Union of Principalities Preda did "sensational work". He finished 7th grade with an overall average of 9.78. Preda's final graduating exam was taken at the Central School in Ciolănești (a commune ten kilometres away from Siliștea Gumești). On 18 June, Preda was issued graduation certificate no. 71, with a general average of 9.15 in all classes. Leaving his native village In 1937, avoiding the Teacher Training School in Alexandria, where the fees were too high, Preda instead sought to attend school in Câmpulung-Muscel, but was rejected at the medical examination due to myopia. His father then tried to send him to a trade school; however, a librarian, Constantin Păun from Miroși, intervened and sent Preda to school in Abrud, where he received a successful grade of 10 in the scholarship examination. Preda soon integrated into daily life at a pedagogical institute. The teaches were satisfied with him and he got along well with his Transylvanian colleagues; in 1939 he spent the winter holiday with a colleague from Abrud. In the autumn of 1939 he was transferred to a school in Cristur-Odorhei, where he continued his studies for another year. As with Abrud, he showed a special interest in history, Romanian, and mathematics. At the meetings of the Literary Society in the school, he was noticed by the teacher Justin Salanțiu, who predicted that "he will become a great writer". While in the Literary Society he wrote and read some short sketches, which were chosen for publication in his school's literary magazine; however, due to changing political circumstances in Romania, the magazine shut down and his writings went unpublished. The three years of Transylvanian life were later evoked in the semi-autobiographical novel Viața ca o pradă