Nalitskaya takes advantage of great opportunity

The Ukraine is the second largest country in Eastern Europe, having a population of 50 million people and being slightly smaller than Texas. Elena Nalitskaya, from Nikolaev, Ukraine, is a senior majoring in economics. She hopes to graduate in May 2004.
She is on a one-year exchange program funded by the International Research and Exchange Board program (IREX), which is a sub-segment of the United States Department of Education. The program provides one year study opportunities to deserving candidates in countries that were once part of the United Soviet Socialist Republic. This same program brought past students Tinatin Gumberidze, from the Republic of Georgia, and Sergiy Slipchenko, from the Ukraine, who attended Georgia College & State University last year. Another GC&SU student, Ramil Babayev, from Azerbaijan, is in the same program as Nalitskaya.
The interesting thing about Nalitskaya is that she did not choose to come to GC&SU. Rather, the program presented the opportunity for her to come and study for one year at the university of their choice. That university happened to be GC&SU.
For Nalitskaya, the experiences she has undergone for the past year are ones that will never leave her for as long as she lives.
For a student who has been in the states for approximately six months, it is surprising that, among visiting Washington, D.C., she has traveled to several other states, such as Maryland, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina and New York.
She acknowledges that the system of learning in America and the Ukraine are quite dissimilar, and adjusting to this presented a challenge that she readily accepted.
“I have had the pleasure of meeting people who are very different from me and we have become very good friends,” said Nalitskaya.
She is thankful for the opportunity; however, she knows that she will miss the people she met here once she returns home.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 23 2004. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry