Miguel's Teaching and Travel blog; Russia, Morocco, Senegal

A Community College professor's experiences serving as a Fulbright Scholar at the Stolypin Volga Region Institute of Administration in Saratov Russia in 2014 and as a Fulbright/Hays grantee in Senegal, West Africa in 2016; Includes a 2nd and 3rd trip in 2015 and 2017 to Saratov, and, in 2015, as part of a delegation to Morocco's Ministry of Education. Continues with an additional trip to Senegal(CAORC) in 2019 and a study abroad summer program at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus in 2019.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

My students. A good bunch. International Business and Entrepreneurship. They are writing a business plan too!

Yesterday evening, I was invited to Natalia Bobarykina's home for dinner, something I've always looked forward to. It is always a warm home, a bit out in the suburbs of Saratov, and I always I get along well with her husband Dmitri and her beautiful daughter Ksyusha. The international office sends a car for me! As I come down the stairs to meet my driver, he gets up, and there is another fellow next to him----another University motor pool driver---and it is Nikolai, my original driver from 2014. He took my wife Janet, her friend Laura, and I to Hvalinsk, the town of apples north of Saratov. Heeeyy Nikolai! We both break out into smiles and give each other a big hug. Makes me smile all evening. This is why I come back to Russia and why I love this place.