Iowa State University is an amazing place both for study and research as well as and for recreational activities. As a Master's student in TESL/Applied Linguistics, I decided to do a double major: ESP (English for Specific Purposes) and Language Assessment. This demands twice as many courses and my schedule is really full. I also started learning Spanish just for myself. Last semester I got permission to audit a beginning Spanish course. This semester, however, I will be learning Spanish on my own with a Spanish-speaking friend helping me as needed.

I enjoy my classes and professors very much! Our English Department is a big friendly family of about 20 professors and 30 graduate students (both M.A. and Ph.D.). Occasionally, some professors organize parties or meetings to which they invite both their colleagues and us, graduate students. We all enjoy each other's company.

My classes are very challenging and time-consuming and I have to work really hard to be successful. In addition to a large number of readings each week, I have many projects and different assignments. Most of all I enjoy working on big group projects. There you can always learn something new from people you work with, to share your knowledge and experience, and to receive feedback on your performance.

The knowledge and experience I get here differs a lot from that which I gained when studying and teaching at Izmail State Humanities University. Many things at Iowa State University are seen from quite a different perspective.

In summer I am planning to do either an internship or an individual study, which means a research project in collaboration with some professors from my department.

If there are Fulbrighters who want some of the prospective Fulbrighters are going to study Applied Linguistics or TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), Iowa State University, in my opinion, is one of the best places for that.

During my winter break I traveled quite a lot: visited my professors at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse (where I had studied as an undergraduate student on an exchange program in 2001-02), met some friends in Virginia and Boston, visited Washington and New York. As I have already mentioned, Iowa State University provides excellent opportunities for recreational activities. There is an Outdoor Recreation Program that offers different inexpensive trips for students. For Thanksgiving break I signed up for a backpacking trip on the Buffalo River Trail in Arkansas, and around New Year I went kayaking in Alabama and Florida. It was an amazing experience for me to live during winter for a whole week in a tent, camp in the woods, experience a huge thunderstorm at night, kayak four days in Alabama, visit caverns in Florida, and have many other fascinating adventures.