I am absolutely fascinated by the University of Florida (UF) - a huge university with huge resources and access to everything that a student needs in order to study. I am affiliated with the English Language Institute (ELI), which is a small semi-independent institute. Its goal is to teach English to foreign students (mostly from South Korea, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and China) to prepare them for enrolling at an institution of higher learning in the United States.

Since the ELI students are multilingual, the approach to teaching English is a bit different from that used in monolingual classes. I think this is more challenging and am looking forward to what I can learn. I have participated in several administrative meetings with my academic advisor, who is also the assistant director of ELI. On the administrative side, there are many practical things that I can adapt to my project in Ukraine. I began to research ESP (English for Specific Purposes), something very relevant for Ukrainian higher education. I've absolutely fallen in love with the libraries at UF and I am really happy that I have such a great opportunity to do the thing I like.

My first months were not easy. First, it was especially hard to get adjusted to the climate - such horrible humidity and heat that one can barely spend 15 minutes in the sun. Now, thank God, it cooled down a bit and we are down to 25 C. Second, this was my and my family's first experience of independent living abroad. Finding an apartment was difficult and turned out to be more expensive than we had expected. Finding furniture and other needed goods was a bit of a challenge, but I am glad I have had such an experience.

Third, I found out for myself that the United States varies a lot. We usually picture it as something that resembles New York, Chicago or Washington. Gainesville is a small university town with a population of about 100,000 people (mostly students). The transportation system is not very good and therefore it's almost impossible to do without a car.

In general, lifestyle here seems to me to be very different from that in the North - it's more relaxed and slower. People here are friendly, and they take their time in doing something or in making a decision. I've had a chance to meet other Fulbrighters currently studying at UF. We had a picnic, during which everyone could share his or her experience of staying in the U.S. It also turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to receive some practical tips about living in Gainesville.

I am enclosing some pictures from a Halloween celebration. One of my colleagues invited me and her students to her home to have a Halloween lesson. It was great fun!

My studies at University of Florida (UF) took the form of independent courses. When I arrived in August, I was told that in order to be registered as a full-time student in UF, I had to take a one-credit hour independent study course, which meant I would study on my own and I would have to pay almost $1,000 per semester. Luckily, Fulbright agreed to cover this and I gained access to everything here at UF.

My first semester didn't look very interesting - I understood I couldn't take any classes even for auditing, so I decided not to waste my time and started my research in the library. The topic of my research gradually shifted from educational administration to English for Specific Purposes (I've been engaged in teaching for specific purposes for about 8 years). I really enjoyed it! The libraries are terrific - you can find almost anything there! So, the fall semester was more theoretical, where I tried to 'dive' into the topic.

Then we (my family) had a very nice one-week holiday in Chicago. We were looking forward to the trip because we wanted to see a metropolis and also we knew we would be together with other Ukrainians. So, luckily we didn't miss Ukrainian Christmas and celebrated it in Chicago's Ukrainian Cultural Centre. It was a chance for us to feel a bit of the Ukrainian spirit and a bit of ... winter. Oh, my little son really enjoyed the snow! You know, here in Florida, we don't have a change of seasons; it's a year-round kurort (pardon my Ukrainian).

Now, since the spring semester started, I am back to my one-hour independent study course. Once a month I meet with my academic advisor and report on what I've done in the previous month. This semester I plan to write an article. Also beginning with this semester I am observing classes of other teachers in the English Language Institute (ELI) with which I am affiliated. The ELI is what is known in Ukraine as a “language school” with the difference that we teach English to Ukrainians (English as a Foreign Language) and they teach English (which is their native language) to foreigners. So there are some ideas I can “borrow” for my project in Ukraine, but my experience here would be more useful for, let's say, a school in Ukraine teaching Ukrainian to foreigners. At my university (Ukrainian Catholic University) we have such a project known as “Ukrainian Summer School,” and I will be very glad to share my experience with my fellow colleagues who are involved with that program.

In my everyday experiences, I find a lot of similarities and a lot of differences with Ukraine. I don't want to write a lot about it because we can speculate about this and discuss this for ages. I closely follow the Ukrainian news (usually in e-newspapers and on TV 1+1) and most of the time it makes me sad or very sad. I watch politicians from U.S. and Ukraine - there are a lot of things they share in common, especially when it comes to pre-election promises. It's the same “blah-blah-blah.” This is called democracy in both countries, but its perception is different in the two countries. We can kick each other or slap each other on the face and say, “This is democracy…” We can hurl swear words or humiliate each other and still say, “This is democracy…” To me it looks more like anarchy. What can you expect of average Ukrainians if they see politicians acting this way?

I am very sarcastic, because I love my Ukraine and my people and it's very painful for me to see what savages we still are.

Another thing that impresses me (in a positive way) is the great sense of patriotism here: American flags are everywhere, kids sing the American anthem every morning at school, people celebrate their national holidays with devotion - this is something we have to learn. You know, I feel I've become a more patriotic Ukrainian since I have been here.