I tell my friends constantly back home that Georgia is an underrated location on all fronts: for tourists outside of former Soviet states, for business and investment, for food and wine connoisseurs, and for the increasingly popular pool of ‘digital nomads’ around the world.  If I were to become a full-time resident of Georgia, I…

I have a Notes app entry called “Georgia Chaos Log” where I chronicle every challenging  or humorous moment of my abroad experience that I don’t want to forget. Some of these entries include helping my host mom put out a kitchen fire, conspiracy theories about Americans that I hear, or getting hit with a door…

I think the conflation of my three biggest takeaways from the first half of my program in Georgia occurred in the middle of a Spar supermarket at 6pm on a Monday night.  It’s not the most glamorous setting nor is it the most exciting story I have to tell. It was not even my first…

I honestly did not depart for my program in Batumi, Georgia with many expectations. Most of these expectations revolved around Russian language learning goals and what I had heard from my Georgian friends in the US: that Georgia is a chaotic, yet warm, country.  The expectation I had about the chaos and hospitality of Georgia…

In Tbilisi there is a large monument on one of the hills overlooking the city called Kartlis Deda, or Mother of Georgia. Kartlis Deda is supposed to be the quintessential symbol of the Georgian spirit throughout history. In one of Kartlis Deda’s hands she holds a sword for those coming as enemies, and in the…

I was asked on my placement test before arriving to Georgia how I imagined the relationship between my Russian language studies and my future. A big question, I have to say, for an answer that is expected to be less than a minute long. My first reaction in answering this question was to focus on…

Hello! Hola! Привет! 안녕하세요! My name is Hannah Faulkner and I am a rising fourth-year student (where has the time gone?!) here at the University of Pittsburgh. Coming from a small town in North Texas, I credit foreign language classes and cross-cultural education as the impetus for the expansion of my worldview and the kindling…