YEAR Alumni Story: Maria Pel
Maria Pel is the YEAR Program Alumna. She spent almost a year in Utah at Snow College, she had the chance to visit different places and even participate in Harvard classes. Maria is happy that America prepared a lot of surprises for her, opened up opportunities and allowed her to develop in different directions.
“Participation at YEAR program was one of the biggest challenges in my life. During one year I had an opportunity to learn various disciplines, to travel and to explore such aspects of American culture as language, religion, politics, culture values, etc.”
Talking about academic life, I really enjoyed Spanish and French classes, mostly because Snow College had highly qualified professors and also a range of tutors who served theirs religious missions in Spanish- and French-speaking countries and, obviously, their language level was close to native speakers one. Thankful to Snow College faculty I considerably increased my knowledge in Spanish and French and now I’m a student of French University College – I would never be able to pass its entrance examination without help and support of my American teachers and tutors during my studying at Snow. Also during my internship, I had an amazing opportunity to visit Harvard University where I participated in some Russian literature classes, talked to professors and students, enjoyed Russian cuisine in Harvard’s dining hall and watched basketball game Harvard&MIT.
I also enjoyed studying religious aspects of American life – I lived in Utah and learned a lot about Mormons.
In general, life abroad made me more mature, independent and resistant. I think people should apply for exchange programs to learn more about new cultures, to share their values and traditions, to broaden their mind.
My exchange trip helped me to find myself and to understand more deeply what I would like to do in the future professionally and as a human being.
Posted By , 29 Sep 2019