Last month, 16 students from my city planning program and one of our professors had a chance to go to New Orleans for the National Planning Conference (NPC18). Thanks to SDSU (we won part of a Student Success Fee grant) we were lucky to attend this important event in our field! Having a lot of stress before all finals and graduation, we enjoyed the chance to relax under New Orleans sun.
Continue reading “Getting a Taste of Europe Without Leaving the States”
A couple of days ago I was talking with my groupmates about the future. We are supposed to graduate this May and we were discussing our plans. One girl said that she declined a job opportunity from a company in San Diego in order to return to the Bay Area to live closer to her family. She said that she wants family support; she loves adventures and traveling, but she prefers to be more of a homebody.
I was surprised by it, because in our field it is hard to find a good full-time job. However, on the other hand it is understandable. Finding your comfort zone is very important to succeed in life — especially when your relatives support you.
However, I’ve always thought that challenging yourself is the main point to be successful in this life. As a Russian international student, I live thousands of miles from my family, my best friends, my lovely room and my comfy bed. And I do not regret it. I got so much experience and new skills in every aspect of life, that I would not change even a bit of my current life.
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing this post. The reason is simple: Before I moved to the United States, I always thought about the ways of life in Russia and the US as being similar. However, that was a big mistake.
It turns out that, in one very big way, people here are way different than people in the country where I was born and raised.
“The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I received it.” —Hubert Humphrey
I want to dedicate this post to a simple but very important thing: friendship. Moving to another country, I left all my friends in Russia. I still chat with them, but sometimes you need someone around — a person with whom you can hang out, go to watch movies or celebrate something.
I was really amazed by all the papers you need fill out just to graduate in the United States. Back in my country it is as simple as can be.
To say a bit about educational system in Russia, it is way different than here. First of all, all of our classes are mandatory. We could not arrange our schedule, or choose to take class in one semester or in another. Our schedule is made by our department and you must attend every class.
To start from the beginning, my journey in the U.S. started in January, 2016. I was enrolled in pre-master’s language class at the American Language Institute (ALI) to prepare for my Graduate Record Examination. However, such place is good only if you are ready for studying on your own, because you are the only one who needs it. Without any extra effort you can get a certificate from Language School easily, but it does not give you a chance to pass other exams needed for applying to grad school.
People there were nice. Teachers were all adorable, interesting people, who were always ready to help you with any question.
The global experience, as told by SDSU students 