AHA « OSU Abroad

Dr. Susie Thomas is not only a Resident Director with AHA International in London, United Kingdom, but is also a published literary scholar focusing highly on British authors. As a Resident Director, she oversees academic programs, teaches courses, and ensures that the students are enjoying their stay in her beautiful city. Read on to learn more about all that London has to offer!

What brought you to be a Resident Director?
I have been teaching literature courses on AHA’s London programme for many years, and I enjoy working with American students.

What are some unique aspects of your city and country?
London has a wealth of history and it is also a modern multicultural city with cutting edge theatre, arts and technology industries. Most of the major galleries and museums are free. The AHA centre is located in the heart of Bloomsbury, so the British Museum and the British Library are just a stroll away. All of our programmes offer excursions to other places in the UK, including Wales, Scotland, Bath, Oxford and Brighton. From London, students can also visit other European cities very easily.

What is one thing most of your students may not know about you?
When I was studying for my doctorate at the University of London I used to work on a carnival during the holidays. We went all across the U.S. and once we even went to Costa Rica.

What are some of your favorite aspects of being a Resident Director?
I love opening doors for students and telling them the good places to go; whether that’s a museum, a theatre, or a favourite Indian restaurant. I take the students on lots of walking tours of the city so that they really get to know it.

What are some of the challenges of your job?
As a literary critic, the biggest challenge for me has been mastering budgets! However, getting the best deals means that we can offer the students lots of educational and fun excursions.

What have you seen as the biggest challenge for incoming students?
Since we speak the same language most students do not have much difficulty settling in. Some students find living in a big city a challenge and some miss their family and friends. This usually passes very quickly! The London centre provides a home away from home, and Mary (the Assistant Director) and I are always around if students want to chat.

What is your advice for students planning to attend your program, or to study abroad in your country?
Be willing to try new things and be flexible!

What is one thing you think students shouldn’t forget to pack for life in your country?
Students can find everything they want here but it’s certainly useful to bring a laptop.

If you want to learn more about attending Susie’s program, check out this link!

Michael Williams has lived and worked in Ghana for over 20 years. Passionate about international education, he is a Resident Director in the coastal town of Accra, Ghana, through AHA International. Read more to discover more about studying abroad in Ghana!

What brought you to be a Resident Director?
I served as the Resident Director of the CIEE Ghana program during its initial 12 years, from 1994 to 2012. Afterwards, I remained in international education, in Ghana, by setting up the Aya Centre, a single purpose, multi-service organization designed to enhance the learning experience and cultural awareness of persons traveling to Ghana. Thus, I had the requisite experience to serve as the Resident Director for the AHA Ghana Program.

What are some unique aspects of your city and country?
There are many unique things about Ghana. The most obvious is that Ghana is the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to have gained its independence from European colonialism. It’s also worth noting that the Ghanaian people are famous for their warmth, hospitality, and friendliness. Moreover, the country itself is very stable and peaceful—devoid of the very divisive ethnic, religious, and political cleavages that plague so many other countries in Africa in particular, and the world at-large.

What is one thing most of your students may not know about you?
That I have 6 children, all of whom are females.

What are some of your favorite aspects of being a Resident Director?
I enjoy helping students to explore Ghana and, by extension, different aspects of themselves. So much of their future is being created here, and I enjoy being a part of that process.

What are some of the challenges of your job?
The main challenges center around Ghana’s status as a developing country. It’s economic, technological, and industrial underdevelopment can weigh heavy on everyone, but especially on persons from highly developed countries. Helping students to adjust to that is never easy. Of course, this is also one of the advantages of studying in Ghana—to see and understand how the majority of people in the world live in a globalized world characterized by so much poverty and inequality.

What have you seen as the biggest challenge for incoming students?
The biggest challenge for incoming students revolves around their effort to adjust and adapt to a country that is so culturally different than United States. However, this is a challenge that can not only be very gratifying, but should also make the entire experience worthwhile.

What is your advice for students planning to attend your program, or to study abroad in your country?
They should read as much about Ghana as they can. They should also keep up with its current events. Students should come prepared to accept Ghana on its own cultural terms without comparing it (favorably or unfavorably) to the United States or any other country. I believe this applies to any country one is planning to visit.

What is one thing you think students shouldn’t forget to pack for life in your country?
Anti-Malaria medicine. Malaria is largely preventable and treatable; still, it’s very important to respect it as a potentially harmful disease if you don’t protect yourself.

What do you think is the most important take-away for education abroad students?
I believe they should return to their home country with a greater sense of their own humanity, and the importance of what each of them do in life and its affect the rest of humanity.

To learn more about attending Michael’s program, follow this link!

Maria Nelida de Juano was inspired to be a Resident Director for AHA International after her time studying abroad in Portland, Oregon. Now, she lives and works in Rosario, Argentina and has been helping students experience it’s beauty for fourteen years.

What brought you to be a Resident Director?
I was an exchange student in Portland, Oregon, many many years ago, so I experienced the importance of a study abroad experience in my own life. It was definitely a life changing experience for me! While I was working at UNR as a teacher in 2001, the opportunity arose to start creating study abroad links with Oregonian universities. We have been receiving 4 groups per year (during Spring, Summer Session 1 and 2 and Fall), ever since.

What are some unique aspects of your city and country?
Rosario is located on the shore of the beautiful Parana river that comes from Brasil and overflows into the Rio de la Plata. It is about 3 hours distance from Buenos Aires. This is a very rich region of the Pampas to grow soy and other grains. Argentina has been heavily influenced by migration coming from European countries, so it is different in some ways to other Latin American countries, and at the same time, shares some trends with them. Students will have a unique experience here, different from what they have in mind for a typical Latin American life.

What is one thing most of your students may not know about you?
Before they come, they do not know I keep dear friends in Oregon from my time as an exchange student, and that I have warm feelings for the landscape there- for Mt Hood and the Willamette river! I will help them learn to love our culture as I learned to cherish the Oregonian culture.

What are some of your favorite aspects of being a Resident Director?
I feel I have the possibility to be in touch with a student’s spirit for some time, while they are away from home. Our team knows that we are dealing with this very precious material, and if we can help the students to walk through this experience successfully, the whole world will be open to them. So I feel responsible for helping them to do so!

What are some of the challenges of your job?
Sometimes students are stuck to the images of experiences they bring from home that were told to them by their friends. I insist on explaining them that each study abroad experience is unique, and they must be open to live their own!

What have you seen as the biggest challenge for incoming students?
The language! Especially when they come with very little knowledge of Spanish.

What is your advice for students planning to attend your program, or to study abroad in your country?
To be interested in living different experiences from the ones they have at home, and to be flexible and open to new things. They will make many new friends here and they might act differently form their friends at home.

What is one thing you think students shouldn’t forget to pack for life in your country?
Friendship. Argentinian people are very sociable and they easily make friends that last.

What do you think is the most important take-away for education abroad students?
Students should be open and interested in making friends and understanding the society and culture.

To learn more about attending this program, follow this link!

Silvia Minucci has a passion for languages, travel and students. She is a resident director for AHA International managing the AHA Siena Program in Siena, Italy. In this entry Silvia tells us about her life, and the life of students of this town in Tuscany.

What brought you to be a Resident Director?
During college, I studied Foreign Languages and Literature and specialized in literary translation. My dream was to work in the international field. I started working at AHA Siena in 1999 as an assistant, and since 2005 I have been the Resident Director. From day one, I fell in love with my job, and I have never stopped enjoying it.

What are some unique aspects of your city and country?
Siena is set in the heart of Tuscany, surrounded by gorgeous landscapes, from Chianti vineyards and olive groves, to the chalk hills and cypress trees of the Val d’Orcia. Siena is an ideal town for a study abroad program, large enough to offer a wealth of opportunities to study arts, history, culture, tradition and Italian language; yet, small enough to be safe and user-friendly, manageable, not overwhelming, and packed with architectural and artistic treasures. Students can walk around Siena and really “live” what they are studying in class. Siena’s central location allows for easy travel opportunities: it’s just over an hour from Florence by bus, 3 hours from Rome, and 4 from Milan. Siena is considered a student town, as many Italian (particular from the South of Italy) and international students come here to attend the Universities.

What is one thing most of your students may not know about you?
My first love in languages is Russian. I studied Russian and lived in Russia for a year. I even wore a Russian Princess-style, white-fur-trimmed dress at my wedding!

What are some of your favorite aspects of being a Resident Director?
I love the social activities with the students. I love showing students things I know they have heard and read about for years and finally get to see. The reaction of students when they stand in front of the Michelangelo’s David for the first time is priceless.

What are some of the challenges of your job?
I feel very protective of my students, like an “Italian” mom!

What have you seen as the biggest challenge for incoming students?
Homesickness. Many students don’t expect to be homesick, so it’s a big surprise to them when they are, and we need to help them to deal with it. However, the ones who are most homesick at the start usually end up having the best experience!

Having studied abroad myself in France, Great Britain, Ireland and Russia, I understand students’ adjustment difficulties as they adapt to living in Siena. Of course, studying abroad is a big challenge, starting from the moment you step off the plane, but it’s an experience that will change your life and one that you will never forget.

What is your advice for students planning to attend your program, or to study abroad in your country?
Be prepared to accept that things are different from America, but to see the differences in a positive way. For example, we don’t have Starbucks here, so we can’t get a tall pumpkin spice latte to go, but you can have a great cappuccino standing up at a bar with the locals!

What is one thing you think students shouldn’t forget to pack for life in your country?
Comfortable shoes! The streets here are made of large stones and there is a lot of walking to do when you are sightseeing.

What do you think is the most important take-away for education abroad students?
Being able to see your own country from a “foreign” point of view, from a different perspective. You’ll find some things that you look at in a more critical way, and many things that you appreciate even more than before.

To find out more about going on Silvia’s program, follow this link!

Madelaine Corbin is an Applied Visual Arts major in the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University. During Summer of 2014, she spent two weeks in Athens, Greece, through AHA International. She delighted in taking in the surroundings, learning about art and even learning more about herself. Below is a continuation of her artwork, as in her previous entry, along with excerpts from her blog that she wrote while still in Greece.

“Jack Kerouac’s writing brilliantly inspires people to adventure. One of his writings states, ‘there was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep rolling under the stars.’ My goal in life is broad, but it is ultimately to go everywhere and do everything passionately with a fire inside.”

“The city of Athens is buzzing with life. Millions of people meander the streets and go about their days embracing the sun and smiles that saturate the air.”

“Remember, stay hungry, value each of your moments, and just keep rolling under the stars.”

Madelaine Corbin is an Applied Visual Arts major in the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University. During Summer of 2014, she spent two weeks in Athens, Greece, through AHA International. She delighted in taking in the surroundings, learning about art and even learning more about herself. Below is some of the artwork she created while abroad, along with excerpts from her blog that she wrote while still in Greece.

“The bright natural light mixed with the native plants, friendly faces, and thoughtful architecture is the perfect environment for inducing creativity and happiness (as they are nearly synonymous).”

“Greece may use the Euro as its currency and kilometers per hour to measure speed, but the true measure of currency and efficiency is in the grace of a smile. We travel at a smile a minute, and true payment comes in the form of the well-received curvature of the edges of our lips.”

“Outside our apartment window is the most pleasant of balconies, where I am currently sitting in fact. There is a small fenced railing where my resting feet can just peer over the edge. Beyond the tips of my toes lies the never-ending city of Athens. There are beautiful surrounding hills that lead to the sea of buildings. The Parthenon sits atop the Acropolis; it is true too, you can see the Acropolis from almost any point of the city. It’s hard to get lost when you can always orient yourself with such a monument, thank goodness.”

“If home is where the heart is, then Athens is my home. Upon arrival yesterday afternoon, with messy hair and a thirsty heart, I made my way through the Athens airport and took a taxi to the apartment I now call home. I share the apartment with two lovely girls, just as easer for adventure and excited about art as I am. We took a little time to breathe after traveling and then immediately headed out into the beautiful landscape of the city to get to know both this new home and each other.”

“Athens cannot be put into words, and I am so grateful this is my home for the next three weeks and to be learning about art.”

OSU Abroad

knowledge without borders

Category Archives: AHA

Meet a Resident Director: Susie

Meet a Resident Director: Michael

Meet a Resident Director: Maria

Meet a Resident Director: Silvia

Art in Athens: Part Two

Art in Athens: Discovering Greece Through the Eyes of a Painter

Contact Info