Internship Blog - Alyssa Cypher, Post #2

Language Studies While in Graduate School

I'm writing this blog post from my dorm room in Podgorica, Montenegro! Podgorica is a gorgeous city full of contrasts - crumbling socialist Yugoslavia-style architecture against a background of gorgeous mountains. It's very different from Zagreb, Croatia (where I studied three summers ago), which reminded me a lot of Pittsburgh. Podgorica is like no city I've ever been to, and I hope to describe it in more detail once I've been here longer than a week. 

Now that I'm taking a break from my internship to immerse myself in a new culture, I figure this will be a good chance to discuss language study while in graduate school. Trying to fit a language study into your schedule can be a challenge; however, I truly believe language study is worth the extra time and effort. Here are some ways I've made language study easier for myself:

The FLAS!

During my first year at GSPIA I was on a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) from the US Department of Education. The FLAS is a government fellowship available in a number of areas and languages. To apply, your university must have a designated National Resource Center (NRC) in your chosen language group. For the 2010-2013 grant period (NRC status is renewed every four years), Pitt had NRCs in Latin American, International, and Russian/East Europe/Eurasian studies. The fellowship pays full tuition plus a sizable living stipend (mine was $18,000) for language and area studies in your chosen language. If Pitt offers a FLAS in a language you are interested in, I highly recommend applying! Applications usually go out around December for the following academic year. 

Summer Study Abroad and the Summer Language Institute!

Studying abroad is a great way to learn or improve your language skills. If you want to focus on language studies, the Summer Language Institute (SLI) is a great time-saving option for learning Russian/East European/near East languages - you can take two semesters-worth of language instruction in 6-8 weeks! These courses are intense (5 hours a day, 5 days a week, 6-8 weeks long), but highly effective and a perfect option for students who cannot fit language study into their academic year course schedule. In addition, SLI offers month-long study abroad language courses in several different cities - I'm currently doing four weeks of intensive Montenegrin (or BCMS) in Podgorica. I also need to note that this is my third summer spent participating in an SLI program - a testimony to the awesomeness of SLI.

Overall language study in graduate school, while not easy, is not as difficult as it seems. The resources are out there if you search for them. Here are links to information about the resources I've talked about - the FLAS (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpsflasf/index.html) and SLI (http://www.slavic.pitt.edu/node/243).

Until next time!

The view of Podgorica from my dorm

Internship Blog - Alyssa Cypher, Post #1

Hello everyone! I’m excited to be blogging for GSPIA Career Services this summer, since it will be a great way to document and share my adventures and experiences. First, I should start off with a little (or a lot) about myself. My name is Alyssa Cypher, and I’m originally from the Pittsburgh area. I graduated with a BS in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh last spring, and now I am pursuing the MPA in Policy Research and Analysis with a certificate in Eastern European Studies. Last year I was on a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship through the US Department of Education to study Advanced Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian. Some fun facts about me unrelated to school: I am a yoga instructor. I also love rock climbing and fencing. I have a pit bull named Esra. I am a homeowner in the neighborhood of Lower Lawrenceville. I love growing, cooking, and consuming food. In my spare time, when I’m not working out in some form, I enjoy going to dive bars, dancing in my house alone to music, and binge watching TV series and terrible horror movies on Netflix.

My summer will be three-fourths Pittsburgh, one-fourth Podgorica. For most of the summer I will be interning for Amizade Global Service-Learning at The Global Switchboard (I will tell you more about this exciting project later in this post). Then mid-July I will hop on a plane and travel to Podgorica, Montenegro to study at the University of Montenegro’s Institute of Foreign Languages. There I will take four weeks of intensive advanced Serbian. (Also, I’m super excited that both myself and Allie will be blogging about/from the Balkans this summer!)

Now, what exactly is The Global Switchboard, and what have I been doing there? The Global Switchboard is a co-working space for globally minded organizations that recently opened in May of this year. Amizade Global Service-Learning powers The Global Switchboard, while Global Solutions Pittsburgh acts as the anchor. Besides these two organizations there are currently seven other members - a mix of nonprofits, for-profits, NGOs, and individual consultants. The Global Switchboard acts as a bridge between Pittsburgh and the globe; it also acts as a catalyst for engagement among our members, taking the input of every group and amplifying the collective output, to increase and strengthen what the members can accomplish both locally and globally. (If you’re still confused, there’s more information on our website - http://theglobalswitchboard.org/ or watch our Youtube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIuFDX9RlQc). As for my job specifically, my daily projects can range from operations to event planning to research to social media management to advertising to orchid care and landscaping to member programming development and implementation. As we say in the office, everyone wears “many hats,” so it can be hard to describe what we do in a single job title. Overall, I love working here. Being a part of The Global Switchboard, complete with dealing with the growing pains and endless trials of a new nonprofit project, is an amazing learning experience, and I cannot wait to see what we will accomplish this summer. Until next time!

Amizade Global Service-Learning and Global Solutions Pittsburgh (GSP) staff exploring Lawrenceville (L to R - Daniel Giovannelli (GSP), Laura Amster (GSP), myself, and Nathan Darity (Amizade)).

The entrance to the Global Switchboard