1. After seven years of putting little effort into Spanish, I decided I wanted to make a concerted effort to learning a new language. Hoping to one day communicate with my Baba in Serbian, I decided to learn Russian since it was the closest to Serbian. After my first year of Russian, I fell in love with the language. I knew that I wanted to explore all aspects of Russia further (e.g., politics, history and literature).
2. Although my summer “study abroad” did not actually take me to Russia, my time at Middlebury’s summer language program opened my eyes to full immersion in Russian. After speaking Russian for a whole summer, it showed me a microcosm of what Russia could be like. Moreover, it made me excited to return to William & Mary to take more difficult classes.
3. Studying Russian has meant more than any other subject at William & Mary. RPSS has opened my mind to an area of study and culture that, frankly, not many people know about. The faculty at William & Mary is unmatched, and they truly care about you progressing. Although I have a long way to go in terms of “mastering” Russian language, RPSS has taught me never to quit, because those in the faculty (and the students) are all focused on getting better day by day.
4. I hope someday to work for the Peace Corps and then the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer, but, currently, I’m letting life take me as it may (while trying to figure it out of course…).
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