Celine El Hajj – Arabic
Where do you live? Beyrouth, Lebanon
What is your academic background? I completed my BA degree in psychology, and am pursuing my masters degree n school psychology.
What do you want people to know about your country? Amazing nature great for hikes and camping, vivid nightlife, lovely people and delicious food: that’s only a part of my beautiful country Lebanon.
What do you want to see or learn about in the U.S.? Experiencing the American culture, getting to know more about the American society and people, improving my English fluency while enhancing my teaching techniques are my main goals.
3 fun facts about me: 1) I’m in love with my curls. 2) I dream about traveling the world and getting to know different cuisines. 3) I enjoy reading thrillers.
Angelica Wang – Chinese
Where do you live? Taipei, Taiwan
What is your academic background? After I finished my B.A. in Economics in Taiwan, I went to Qingdao, China to study Teaching Chinese as a second language as my M.A., then spent the summer of 2018 at Washington University in St. Louis to attend a Chinese teacher training program.
What do you want people to know about your country? Taiwan is a small island to the south-east of China. Even though it is a small island but it’s a place with lots of fun and beautiful places to see (and delicious food).
What do you want to see or learn about in the U.S.? I wish to go on a road trip and drive around the states to try all different kind of food (but haven’t gotten my driver’s license yet).
3 fun facts about me: 1) I love ice cream, a scoop of it makes my day! 2) I lived in Philadelphia, PA for four years when I was a kid. 3) Theme parks are one of my favorite places to visit.
Alexia Boisseau – French
Where do you live? Saint-Brevin-Les-Pins, France
What is your academic background? I just graduated from a law and languages degree (English and Spanish). I am interested in the cinema industry and want to work in the law part of it.
What do you want people to know about your country? I want students to know that we eat well in France but also that France is a beautiful country to discover with various landscapes.
What do you want to see or learn about in the U.S.? I want to discover as much landscapes as possible and also to discover college life. I am also very interested into discovering the different aspects of the American way of life.
3 fun facts about me: 1) I am addicted to TV shows and Netflix. 2) I like to make my friends laugh as much as possible. 3) I played basketball for 7 years and I want to go back to it.
Severin Meding – German
Where do you live? Bonn, Germany (where Haribo Gummi Bears come from!)
What is your academic background? I am currently in the middle of my master’s studies at the University of Cologne in order to become a high school teacher (German and History). Furthermore, I am interested in international history, international politics and foreign languages teaching mythologies.
What do you want people to know about your country? Germany is such a small country if one compares it with the U.S. It’s amazing that if you drive 50 miles you can get to an area where people probably speak a totally different dialect and have a local culture which makes every longer trip unique. For instance, in Cologne the dialect is called “Kölsch.” Sometimes I get the impression that people from other countries believe we all wear “Lederhosen” or “Dirndls” and drink a lot of beer. To be fair, the point with the beer is pretty accurate but wearing the traditional Bavarian costumes probably only applies to the south of Germany. Still, it’s a really funny stereotype.
What do you want to see or learn about in the U.S.? I’d like to experience how life at a U.S. college really is. I am very excited about teaching German as a foreign language on campus and I am also really looking forward to learning more about American history and politics. Beyond that, I definitely want to explore the beautiful countryside of Pennsylvania and the other parts of the U.S. Finally, I want to meet many new people and gain new interesting experiences.
3 fun facts about me: 1) I did an internship for six months at a Charter School in Alaska. That is literally one of the coolest places I’ve ever been in my life. It is simply amazing when you wake up on a snowy winter morning and the first thing you see is a resting moose in the backyard, looking at you grumpily. 2) While on a trip with friends in Alaska, a bear spray can accidentally opened up inside the trunk and I got that nasty stuff all over my hands. It burned so badly that I had to hold two ice bags in my hands the night after to get any sleep. This story reminds me that not everything in life is always predictable and one should therefore always keep a certain sense of humor. 3) I really want to hit the American road with an old pick-up truck at some point in my life.
Celia Ibáñez Pascual – Spanish
Where do you live? I’m from Cocentaina, Spain. My town is located in the southwest, next to the Mediterranean Sea.
What is your academic background? I studied Translation and Interpreting in Jaume I University (Castellón de la Plana, Spain) but I also lived one year in Warsaw as an Erasmus student. Although I studied Translation, what I like most is teaching, especially teaching my language to non-native speakers. I also love learning new languages and improving those which I still know.
What do you want people to know about your country? Foreigners usually think that Spain is all about beaches, Flamenco, tapas and hot weather… but that’s not true. Spain is divided into autonomous communities, similar to the United States. And each one has its own culture, weather and even language or dialect. For example, in the north is always rainy and cold. People also believe that we party a lot. Maybe we go out more often than the rest of the European countries, but we aren’t always partying as it’s said.
What do you want to see or learn about in the U.S.? Every person in the world wants to go to the United States once in a lifetime, including me. In my case, going to the U.S. it’s appealing because it’s located in another continent and it’s culturally different. In addition, I would love to discover new things about your culture and way of life. And of course, learning English and teaching Spanish.
3 fun facts about me: 1) I love theater; in fact I’m an amateur actress in a company from my town since I was 16 years old. 2) I used to be a ballet dancer when I was younger. 3) Nowadays what I like most is traveling.