American Councils Study & Research Abroad

This is a fantastic program that I would recommend to others in an instant! Everything was great, and all aspects were well taken care of and arranged, but I still had enough freedom and "problem-solving" opportunities (just a given when living in a new country) that I felt that I grew from the experience. Overall, two big thumbs up!

I'll always remember my time in Moscow as one of the most formative times of my life. I learned so much about Russian language and culture, from my classes, my host family, the cultural excursions, and just from experiencing the beautiful Russian summer. I gained so much confidence with the language and in myself. The academics were challenging, as was the adjustment to living in Russia, but I had plenty of time to explore after classes and on the weekends. Life in Moscow is fast-paced but navigable. There's always something happening, from concerts to festivals, especially in the summer, and the RLASP program let me experience that to the fullest. I miss Moscow and I miss the program. I'd go back in a heartbeat!

This past summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern in Armenia through American Councils. I worked with Article 3 Human Rights Club, a non-profit organization in Yerevan, Armenia's capital. I gained a lot of valuable skills and experience as I researched, wrote, planned, and did video work for a project exploring the circumstances, effects, and continuation of Armenia's recent political revolution. This was a great career opportunity as I had been considering the human rights/non-profit field, and this experience really informed my choices since I was able to interact with many people in the sphere. In addition, the experience was amazing personally. I have been to Armenia before, but this time I got to explore the country more deeply by living in Yerevan for six weeks with a host family. My host family was very nice, and since I spoke a little of the language, the program gave me a major opportunity to improve my skills by placing me with a family that did not speak much English (others in my group got English-speaking host families, however). I was also able to take language classes through the program. They have scholarships to go to Armenia, but although my field did not qualify for the scholarship, I was able to get a grant from my university that made it possible to go to Armenia for a long time for very little money. In addition, the American Councils staff were very attentive and always checking in with us to see if we had any issues, or ways in which we could improve our experience. I went with a group of six other interns, and that was one of my favorite parts of the experience. We were all from different fields, backgrounds, and parts of the U.S., but we got along very well, and it was great to explore the country with friends. American Councils organized some excursions for us for free, and also helped us to plan ones outside of the program. Finally, this program also offers class credit for the internship experience and a small number of assignments outside of the internship. Overall, a really good experience that I would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to go to abroad, but is also looking to build their resume and gain experience.