After weeks of explaining to confused family and friends that you can indeed study abroad in Georgia because there is a country with the same name as the state, I am finally on the brink of my trip! I am a bit nervous about my conversational Russian, but I am even more excited to see my language skills develop through constant use. In the classroom, the pressure of native Russian speakers attempting to communicate with me just does not exist, but in Georgia I will be immersed in this very situation every day. I trust that “necessity is the mother of invention” will help me refine and go beyond what I have learned over the past two semesters at Notre Dame.
I have enjoyed researching Georgian culture over the past several weeks, but I highly doubt that I am prepared for everything I will encounter. I am sure I will discover that some of the things I have read are not actually true for most Georgians. As a result, I am going in with a very open mind. I am very excited to adapt to a new culture, especially through a homestay, and I have been thinking about how to make a good first impression and avoid becoming a burden on my hosts. When I was choosing a language program, I was very particular about finding one that offered homestays because Professor Tom Marullo left a deep impression on me about their importance to cultural immersion. I am looking forward to living in a Georgian house in a Georgian neighborhood, and I hope my hosts are very knowledgeable in the local culinary arts.
I have traveled to Costa Rica and Ireland with my family, but I have never traveled to Eurasia, and I have never visited another country to live with a local family for 6 weeks. I am excited to watch my language skills develop as I adjust to a very different culture. Additionally, the end of the Cold War in the United States was very different from that in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. I have studied this topic on my own, but I have never experienced what it is like to live in one of these countries, and I expect that this experience will allow me to understand life in a post-Soviet nation. I have also been following the war in Ukraine very closely, but I cannot truly relate to the experiences of the people involved. I expect to encounter people who have fled Ukraine and Russia because of the war. Reading about their experiences is important, but it will be even more valuable to talk about them in person.