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By: Anna
Mandzhiyeva
Did you know
there are two people at Dickinson who
introduce themselves as
"exchange students"? Senior
Miranda Merkviladze is from Georgia --
not the American state, but a country
situated in Eastern Europe. Anna
Mandzhiyeva is from the Republic of
Kalmykia, a part of Russia.
Why did they
come to the USA and leave their families
and cultures at home? Learning English
was one reason among many.
A program that
provides students from the New
Independent States (NIS) the opportunity
to come to the USA is the Freedom Support
Act (FSA). The FSA exchange program is
funded by the US government to promote
respect for cultural diversity and
friendship between the USA and the NIS,
of which Georgia and Russia are parts.
The FSA is a unique and exciting
opportunity for students to get
acquainted with new culture, see how the
teenagers of America live their lives,
and share their interests.
FSA exchange
students live with host families all over
the US and study in American schools.
This helps them to understand the
American school systems better.
Generally, most participants believe it
is a valuable and fun experience to study
at American schools while observing
differences and studying subjects that
they do not have at home.
At Russian
and Georgian schools, students do
not have opportunities to choose
classes; they are supposed to study what
is required, no matter if they like it or
not. For example, there are five years of
algebra and geometry and six years of
English as a foreign language required.
In Georgia, Miranda studies at the Lyceum
of Tbilisi State University, and her
school consists of about forty students
of tenth and eleventh grades. Anna's
school is also quite small and consists
of about 500 pupils from the ages of
seven to seventeen. Children of different
ages all study in the same building. The
system of evaluating also differs;
popular "multiple choice"
and "true or false" questions
are not common. Georgian, Russian,
and American teenagers all have
extracurricular lives and attend
different clubs and meetings. But sports
play a much more important part in the
lives of US students. Many sports
such as field hockey, baseball, softball,
and American football are not popular in
the NIS.
Being in
another country, far away from families
and friends, is an exciting, though
sometimes difficult, experience. The word
"homesickness" becomes
familiar, but it is a part of individual
growth and a lesson for measuring a
person's character. As Miranda said,
"Living in the place where
everything is different makes me analyze
and think about the things I have
never thought of."
The
life and cultures of the NIS and the US
have so many differences that it is
impossible to say which is better; they
are just different.
Living in another country and
culture opens one's eyes and heart to
such similarities in cultures as
kindness, sympathy, devotion and honesty.
FSA students find that these qualities
are equally important to all countries
and people regardless of nationality.
The Dickinson exchange students are quite
excited about making their small
contributions to better under
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