With Love from Kentucky to Russia

AIFS was one of the best fit programs for me. I appreciated the fact that they were all inclusive and I had a lot of worry taken off of my shoulders since I did not have to book my flight or find housing. The professors at Polytechnic University in St. Petersburg were very encouraging. I did however only have experience with two professors and my classes were mainly with other Americans. This made sense because Russians aren’t usually taking Russian History and Russian Language classes. I hope that the Russian language professors continue to be there for years to come. My professor was very encouraging and even told us on the first day of class that we would be speaking Russian better than her after only a semester of study. Although, I knew this was not true, it started me off on a positive foot with such a difficult language. The option to stay with a host family was definitely a perk that made the program more appealing. I chose to stay with a host family. I was the only student that got the experience to stay with a host family that had children. I look back on that experience as something that made my stay all the more unique. I now have a much better representation of Russian everyday life. I am very thankful for the in country program advisers that were always there to support my stay in St. Petersburg.