ALL ABOUT ME.

For those of you who aren't members of my immediate family (or for those members of my immediate family who might need a refresher), I am a third-year student in Reed College's Russian Department.  I'm spending this semester studying in St. Petersburg, at the ACTR/RLASP (Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies) program, which is run by American Councils in conjunction with Bryn Mawr College and St. Petersburg's Russian State Pedagogical University (The Gertsen Institute).  You can learn more about ACTR's excellent study abroad opportunities, as well as apply for the spring term or next year, at www.actr.org or at www.acrussiaabroad.org.  

I was very lucky to be awarded a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which made possible my term abroad.  The Gilman International Scholarship Program is an amazing resource, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Bureau of Education, to make study abroad possible for undergraduate students of all economic backgrounds.  The Gilman Scholarships are awarded to select undergraduate students who are eligible for the Federal Pell Grant (if you're not sure if you receive or are eligible for this grant, you can find out at www.ed.gov/programs/fpg/index.html).  Thanks to programs such as the Gilman Scholarship and the Fulbright-Hayes Program, students for whom study abroad might otherwise be out of reach are enabled to travel and study internationally.  The Gilman Scholarship Program is of special interest to students of Russian, as beyond the scholarships of up to $5000 per semester available to all study abroad participants, the Program offers a Critical Need Languages Scholarship of up to $3,000 to students of Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and other languages of domestic interest.  To apply for the Gilman International Scholarship or to learn more about it, go to www.iie.org.

Besides enabling students to study abroad, the Gilman Program encourages a more profound experience abroad by requiring all scholarship recipients to complete a follow-on service project, a proposal of which is part of the application.  The service project is meant to spur wider interest and knowledge of study-abroad opportunities, and may be geared toward one's college community or a wider audience.  Hence, piperinpeter.blogspot.com.  By writing this blog, I hope to make known the benefits of study abroad, particular to students of Russian language and culture.  Moreover, I hope my experiences will encourage students who think that study abroad is beyond their reach to apply for the many programs and scholarships available to us.  While studying Russian may at times seem an arcane task, we Russian majors will actually be a vital part of America's economic and political future.  In this "globalized" world, bilingual Americans with cross-cultural understanding are a key component of our nation's continuing prosperity.  Our generation carries the burden and the privilege of coming of age in a time when knowledge of diverse cultures and languages is vital, not only to personal and national economic success, but to each individual's comprehension of his daily life.  

Aside from all that, blini with red caviar are delicious beyond one's wildest imaginings, and available on every block in Petersburg.