Globalization Grant

Yay! UC International Programs just e-mailed me to tell me I received a Globalization Grant for study abroad. I am extremely excited as I received more than I thought I would (Well I would be happy with whatever I got, really). Thank you UC International! I ought to mention that this blog is my outreach project for the grant... I'm linked to UC International's website so other students can read about studying abroad.

I really want people to think about studying abroad in non-traditional countries (basically outside of Western Europe). Also, the government really wants you to think about it too. They're throwing all kinds of money at students to learn Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Persian, and Russian... and other languages too. Unfortunately, I didn't get any government money because 1. the deadlines for application fell 6 months before I decided to do this and 2. I haven't been studying Russian long enough to be eligible. Even if you don't get any money from the government, knowing one of the languages they think is important for "national security" is a pretty good skill.

On the fun side, I spent hours last night looking for this music video by Diskoteka Avariya, a Russian rap-ish type group. The song is called Opa, the video is awesome... Their other songs are pretty cool too- they have a song called Pei Pivo (Drink Beer), which tells you to drink like they do. My new favorite band.