The University of South Carolina (USC) is home to more than 200 years of history and tradition. It is situated in Columbia, capital of South Carolina named for Christopher Columbus. It rose from a single building in 1805 to the present 8 campuses and has an enrollment of more than 39,300 students.

USC provides many opportunities for international students to cooperate with one another and integrate into American society. Students take part in numerous projects, forums, and workshops organized by the International Office. I'm a member of the Thinking Globally Program and make presentations about Ukraine to undergraduates majoring in Business, Law, and Economics. Many students and professors know about Ukraine and some of them have even visited it as an exchange scholar or student. Since here I can get access to resources in linguistics that were unavailable for me at home, I reciprocate by providing my professors and classmates information about my country and ny responding to any kind of interest in Ukrainian language, culture, or history.

I am also a member of International Student Organization and Cultural Exchange Association, which permit members to share traditions and life values as well as to destroy many cultural stereotypes and misconceptions.

The Columbia Council for Internationals held a Welcome Dinner for newly arrived students at which they matched each one with a volunteer family. My community host family helped me to adjust to my new surroundings and I celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with them.

The Linguistics Program at USC is an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary program with three concentrations: Cognitive Science and Theoretical Linguistics, Language Variation and Change , and Second Language Acquisition and Teaching. The program promotes specialized and collaborative research and trains students to pursue research and teach in a range of linguistic sub-disciplines. Professors from other universities give lectures, lead discussions, and afterwards willingly socialize with students at monthly held colloquiums.

The Graduate Linguistics Student Association has its own committee and budget. Its officers participate actively in the academic life of the department -- for example, they survey what linguistic topics interest students the most and invite professors from all over the country to lecture and provide advanced study programs.