Study Abroad Advising Hours and Peer Mentors

Study Abroad Peer Mentor Availability, Fall 2010

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

10:00

Mentor Available

Mentor Available

Mentor Available

11:00

Mentor Available

Mentor Available

Mentor Available

Meet our Study Abroad Peer Mentors

Angela Raiford moved to San Francisco from North Carolina in 2008. A military brat born in Germany, she really wanted the chance to immerse herself in German culture and keep up with her father who is fluent in the language! A true daughter of the military at heart, she really loves exploring all corners of the world. Her one big dream is to move abroad to London one day. She will never forget the six weeks with her German host family, when she barely knew German and her hosts knew no English! She doesn't think she'll ever live down the time she smiled and nodded through a conversation with her host mother, to which she understood very little. Finally her host mother went to grab the English-German dictionary and pointed to the word funeral! It turns out that she was just trying to inform her about a recent death in the community. Angela hopes to encourage others to learn more languages and skip the cultural embarrassment!

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Ava Donald grew up in San Diego (southern California) and moved to San Francisco in 2008 to begin her study of Biology. She wanted to see more of the world, and decided to study abroad in England because she doesn't speak any other languages, and picked the University of East Anglia (UEA) because it has an extremely good reputation for science. She started studying biology with the intent to become a doctor, but is now researching opportunities to do medical school abroad based on the friends she made studying medicine at UEA. She was surprised on her first day in town to discover that all of the buses in England-not just in London, were double-decker, and that a bunch of the words were different. The first time she went into a restaurant to order a bag of chips, she was given a box of French fries instead! Turns out chips are French fries, and crisps are chips over there! 

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From a very young age, Cecily has been exposed to international cultures. As a child there were always international students coming in and out of her house so it's no wonder that she was drawn to study abroad! She is fascinated by learning new languages and absolutely loves discovering and experiencing new cultures. She studied in France in high school and became fascinated with all things European. All set to major in French, her life took an unexpected twist when she decided to study in Chile for a year to complete a Spanish minor. After an amazingly life changing year in Chile , she is now majoring in Spanish and minoring in Latin American Studies. One of the many new experiences she had while in Chile , was having the seasons completely reversed. She remembers spending her Christmas in shorts and eating watermelon. Meanwhile all the decorations that everyone had out still showcased snowmen and Santa Clause in his big red fluffy suit. Cecily hopes to return to Chile after she graduates so that she can get her TEFL certificate and teach English.

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Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Christina Zhukovsky has lived in the US for over a decade and in Sweden for the last year. She is Biochemistry major, Russian minor and was recently accepted into the Masters program of Infection Biology at Uppsala University. While passionate about both science and languages, she sought an experience that could combine both.

Ultimately working on becoming a pediatric surgeon, she has often remarked on how important this experience has been in inspiring her continue her dreams and the many opportunities it gave her that she would have never explored otherwise.

“I had never thought of Infection Biology as a field that I might enjoy” she explained. “This experience really opened up my eyes and expanded my world, which is why I want to pursue a Masters of Infection Biology at Uppsala. I would definitely recommend a study abroad experience to everyone who's interested, especially a science student. The unique perspective you will encounter will be invaluable to your future and don't worry, you can do it! I had my own doubts in the beginning but the OIP had helped me with information about deadlines, requirements and financing. I'm thankful to them and this is why I want to give back as a volunteer.”

You can see some of the experiences she documented at http://youtu.be/x2vLesGrZs8

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Favienne Howsepian is a first generation American born to a Dutch mother and a French/Armenian father. Since all of her family lives in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, she has always had a strong connection with foreign cultures. Her first experience living abroad was during junior year of high school, when she studied for five months in a small town called Huizen in the Netherlands. Previously a shy individual, Favienne was forced outside of her comfort zone and consequentially became much more confident and brave. After returning home, her love for foreign cultures and desire to live abroad did not fade. She was determined to study abroad again, and was able to do so during her third year at SFSU. For 10 months, she studied cinema and french at the Paris 8 Univeristy of Saint-Denis - Vincennes in France, and also taught English conversation at a local french high school. Prior to this time abroad, she had always had anxiety when speaking foreign languages, yet was able to overcome this when immersed into the french culture. She found Paris to be a beautiful city with very rich culture. Every aspect of this experience, including the food, the people, the culture, the wine, the day and nightlife, the architecture, the sunsets, etc amazed her. She continues to hold an interest in the international community and hopes to live abroad once again in both the Netherlands and France to improve her fluency in their respective languages.

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Glen Lee never traveled outside the US before in his life. As a former Gator Aider (Peer Advisor) at SFSU, he facilitated the summer orientations and stumbled across the Study Abroad table one summer day...He looked into going to Amsterdam or Hong Kong but he decided to choose Hong Kong since that was where his ancestors were from. Going there was the best experience of his life! He built strong relationships with people from all around the world including UK, Netherlands, Norway, France, Poland, and Hong Kong. He traveled all over Asia from going to Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Philippines, and China. He met amazing people all along the way and even passed all his classes! He learned Cantonese, Mandarin and some Korean. Asia definitely has a lot to offer because of its booming economy and the parties never end. He highly recommends you to study abroad. It will give you a different perspective of the world and it will make you realize who you really are in life.

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Jari Pearson was born and raised in the East Bay and has lived in the Bay Area his whole life. When he moved to Danville and started High School he became very interested in Foreign Languages. He ended up taking both German and Japanese classes throughout all of High School which lead to three separate short trips abroad. It was after these trips he knew he had to pick a language and get out of California to see more of the world; he chose Japanese. He is very passionate about Japanese Language, Culture, History, and many other parts of Japanese culture. He just got back from a year abroad in Oita , Japan where he improved his Japanese more than he had expected. Speaking of unexpected, when he was living with his girlfriend in Oita during the second half of the year he became ambiguously married. One day after they had moved into a new room that was bigger, he and his girlfriend were greeted by the Dormitory's manager. He greeted them kindly and he congratulated them on their move-in and "marriage," and was curious if a baby was in the future. At first the two were very taken aback, unsure of why he considered them married. They responded that they had thought of kids yet, and hurried away as quickly as possible to contemplate his words. It was only later, after talking to some Japanese friends, that they learned that if you live together with the opposite sex in Japan , even just friends or roommates, people assume you are married. So they humored the man and remained "married" for the rest of their time there.

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As a bay area native going to university in San Francisco, in the back of my mind I always to move further away from home to see how life is in different cities of the world. Who would've thought I'd end up moving 5,000 miles away!! I have also been French culture since I learned some of their history high school. I decided why not experience both of these things first hand and walked into the OIP last summer. This would turn out to be the best decision of my college career and by far the most enlightening. During my life abroad I grew a lot as a person and cultivated my understanding of the world and its people. I am proud to be a study abroad alumnus and determined to help others become alumni as well. Jesus Torres

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Originally coming from Sacramento, Jordan Brown came to San Francisco State to pursue a career in Electronic Media. He someday wants to travel recording sound and images and teach media to children. In 2010, Jordan began his journey to Southern Germany at the University of Tübingen and the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart. For Jordan, Germany was a vivid experience with many exciting moments as well as dull ones. Travelling abroad for Jordan was a way to see the many countries and become more educated within his field of media theory and practice. Germany opened up his eyes to new music, films, literature and art. He learned about the political, economical, and cultural relationship between the United States and Germany in the past and how it still plays a major role today. When not studying, working or trying to adjust back to his "American Life," he is seen around the city riding his bike, digging for vinyl records, and rediscovering the delicious food of California.

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Kelley Reynolds grew up in Clovis California (Central Valley) and moved to San Francisco in 2008 after graduating high school. She went into school with a declared major in Biology and during her sophomore year she had a chance to travel to Europe. During that trip she realized she wanted to study something else. She changed to Communications Studies with a Minor in International Relations and studied in Aarhus, Denmark, the second largest city in Denmark for one semester. Kelley has always wanted to travel and studying abroad was a great opportunity for her. Living in a country that speaks another language is hard to adapt to, but Kelley loved the challenge a foreign language brought. Kelley believes the best part of her trip was that she had met so many natives. Kelley lived in a dorm with 14 other Danish students and really enjoyed getting to know the community and culture these students had showed her. She strongly suggests that to really experience the culture, that getting out of your comfort zone is a must. In Denmark biking is common a form of transportation, but Kelley learned quickly that riding in the snow was harder than it looked. Falling off her bike was a common occurrence.

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Lacou Flipse is a Dietetics major and Holistic Health minor. She moved to San Francisco in 2008 and is originally from Miami, Florida. In between Florida and California Lacou has lived in close to 10 different States. Her frequent travels within the United States instilled in her the desire to travel outside of the country. During Spring 2011 she got the opportunity to travel to Seoul, South Korea, practically the other side of the world. She attended Chung Ang University. In Korea Lacou had to adjust to a totally new culture. It was an amazing experience almost like being a little child, experiencing everything from using the toilet, to saying and writing her name for the first time in Korean. She enjoyed explaining to her Korean friends that her hair was not permed and why she had a nose ring. Along with travel Lacou loves food. In Korea she discovered so many wonderful dishes and had a field day attempting to try everything that fit her pescatarian lifestyle. She soon discovered the wonderful hotok, a Korean style sweet bread that is reminiscent of one her mothers Belezean dishes, the fry-cake. It might have been a longing for her mothers cooking but Lacou had this dish almost everyday during the winter months when it was sold the street near her university. She would go there so often that the vender knew her name, and exactly what she would order. During the summer months when the vendor no longer make hotoks, a friend offered up her kitchen and hotok making lesson, and now Lacou can make hotok when every and where ever she is. She met many wonderful natives and fellow study abroad students and made life-long friends that have taught her immensely about the world outside of America, even about America itself. She is really happy that she accomplished her dream of traveling and is excited to return and share her enthusiasm and story with those interested in studying abroad.

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Michael Suyeda
I was sitting in Dolores Park watching Starsky & Hutch with my friends and a couple hundred other people when I called my house and found out that I had been accepted to study abroad in Paris, France for Fall 2010-Spring 2011. I screamed, laughed, tackled my friends, and hugged some strangers. It's a night I'll never forget. The inspiration to study abroad in Paris came two years prior after returning from a small trip to Europe with my parents. I decided then to make every step necessary in order to bring myself back to the city of lights for an extended period of time. About four or five weeks into my year abroad I needed a haircut so I went to a place near my house upon the recommendation of a friend. My French wasn't the greatest at this point so when he asked me if I wanted to leave a little hair on my head I took it as he wanted to cut a little hair off so needless to say I left the shop looking like I was ready to join the Army. Besides the unplanned buzz cut, being in Paris for the year was one of the most amazing times of my life and I honestly believe everyone should study abroad at one point in their lives.

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Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, Nicole Smith made her way to SFSU in 2007 with hopes of one day studying abroad. Lucky for her, the amazing study abroad program at SFSU helped to turn this hope into a reality! Nicole took the long flight to London to study at University during the beginning of her junior year in 2009; little did she know that she would not touch foot in California again until nearly two years later in 2011. Many people ask Nicole: why London, and why so long? Well, London seemed to be the perfect study abroad location for Nicole as she is in the process of completing a double major in psychology and history. In a city as huge and diverse as London, the opportunity to meet and learn about different people and different cultures is endless and the continent of Europe and all of its history are on London's doorstep. After falling madly in love with London over the course of only one year, Nicole felt as though her eyes had been opened to the world and decided to prolong her relationship with London by extending her stay for an additional year. London became a second home to Nicole and provided her with an invaluable education of culture, travel, and history that cannot be taught through textbooks or ilearn. Living in London gave Nicole the opportunity to travel around all of Europe, develop close friendships with people from all over the world, be exposed to so many new accents that she can now somehow manage to understand almost every accent in the book, and even do some Royal Wedding crashing. She is now back at SFSU to help people like you to study abroad, love it so much that you end up extending your stay, and maybe even do some wedding crashing at the next Royal Wedding.

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I, Patricia Llamas , was born and raised in Southern California, daughter of Mexican immigrants. I've always had the dream to study abroad since high school and eventually moved up north to study at Chico State for two years and transfer to San Francisco State University before heading off to study in Santiago de Chile.  Wanted to study in Chile to get a different perspective in the field of Psychology and ended up learning and experiencing a different perspective not only in Psychology but also way of life, fueling my dreams of continuing education, work, and life abroad in the future and contributing to needed change in the States. I suppose an embarrassing event was (long story): The Bicentennial weekend when I got my name “La Patty” (The Patty). It was the bi-centennial weekend celebration and me and over a group of 15 people headed to the beach (Pichelemu) to celebrate. Somehow I managed to get left by the bus that carried my luggage on board, plus the 15+ friends I was with. Luckily with the help of a bus assistant who felt pity on me and 2 other friends who also managed to get left behind, 7hrs later we got to our hostel, where I met up with friends who would yell out “La Patty” and strangers asking if I was “La Patty”. Soon enough I come to find out a friend on board yelled “Donde esta La Patty”(Where is the Patty?), once she found out I wasn't on the bus, so the whole three hrs to Pichelemu the people onboard the first bus began to chant with drums singing along to “Donde esta La Patty, La Patty” all the way there. Thus I was now “La Patty” to my friends and strangers that weekend and in the streets of Santiago when I returned, never being able to let that day down for the rest of my year abroad.

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Peter Tan was born in China. His family immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, when he was two years old, when he was 16, he moved out to San Francisco. Even though he was born in China, he really knew nothing much about his country. Thus, he decided to go study aboard. His parents were excited to hear the news because his interest in his heritage has made his parents proud. Taking the opportunity, he has immersed himself in his culture by traveling around 10 places in China, and also a few other different countries. Through the exchange, he has met a lot of life long friends, loved then lost, and networked in Hong Kong. He completely loved the people out in Hong Kong although it was quite difficult for him to meet the locals because his tattoos were intimidating for them. However, after he played basketball with the locals, they knew he was a nice guy and easy to get along with. After the experience, Peter has developed a lust for traveling, and would like to go to many other places. Hopefully with his intent on getting a degree in international business, the opportunity might present itself to him.

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Peter Mai was born and raised in San Francisco. He had many diversed friends growing up. He appreciates the fact that San Francisco has a very diverse and open culture. Peter has seen people from all walks of life because of my childhood background. He attended George Washington High School and decided to go to City College of San Francisco to begin my college career. Peter was optimistic and outgoing but he did not know how to manifest activities that would express my full potential. In other words, he did not have outlets. His life changing moment was in my sophomore year at CCSF. He discovered B-Boying, an art form of Hip Hop, on television. He believes the moment the he embarked on this journey as an enthusiast of B-Boying it began to transform him into a better person. He met many good friends and many opportunities opened up for me. He believes this is what led me to studying abroad. B-Boying is a part of him and is a way he can carry himself every day.

          He studied at City University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China for a full academic year. He did everything he could and did not hold anything back. Peter met so many great people and established some great friendships. Peter learned so much Cantonese and some Mandarin. Knowing what he knows now, if he had to do it again, he would do it even better. However, Peter holds no regrets and appreciates the Study Abroad Program for all of its effort and support that created this opportunity for him. His way of giving back is to do the same for prospective candidates for study abroad. He wants them to have the same opportunity if not better to experience studying abroad.

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Moving across multiple states in the U.S. may have given Rachel Gellerman her first desire to see more of the world. She decided to follow in her father's footsteps and spend a year abroad in the one and only, London, England. She had the chance to travel to nearing 15 countries during that year, but will always call London her number one. Rachel will never forget walking in heels to an interview in the heart of London and falling completely on the ground! Cobblestones are something she was still getting used to...but there were a few friendly Brits right there to help her up. Rachel officially studies Fashion and Marketing, but unofficially loves everything to do with event planning, PR, design, business, and so much more. Going abroad opened her eyes to a newfound passion and career path she wants to follow, and wouldn't mind whatsoever if that path led her right back to the UK. She is eager to promote the wonderful experience of studying abroad to anyone she meets!

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Raul Garcia was raised in cherry town Linden where he spent most of his days driving 15 miles to go to the nearest fast food restaurant. He is a Recreation major and would love to move around the world. He knew he wanted to study abroad the first day of his freshman year, when he saw a study abroad table in the middle of the quad. After spending a year in the South of France, he rediscovered his inner child, and met such great friends! He will never forget the time when him and his friend had to run down a mountain and get to the center of town in 20 minutes, before the last bus left, in the middle of a thunderstorm. As he was running down the mountain, he flew, rolled, and slid down the French Alps. The passenger's faces when they got on the bus were priceless.

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Ruby is first generation in her family to attend a college university and now she is also the first to have studied abroad in the UK! While studying Criminology in Cardiff University, she lived in a flat that was provided by the campus university. Walking in, she soon discovered that she was living with nine other students in which all had to share one kitchen, two toilets and two showers. Even though it seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, over the course of the year she happily concluded that this compacted flat was the best accommodation she could have asked for. She was able to become close friends with each of her flat mates and even spent the Christmas holiday with one of their families. Not only did she leave with wonderful memories but she also left with lifelong friends.

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Shaylona Wheeler was born and raised in San Mateo California. She is a Liberal Studies Major emphasizing in ethnic studies. She studied Abroad in Ghana the academic year of 2010-2011. Ghana was the first African country she ever visited. She was interested from the beginning about Ghana's history, culture, and youth. One of her memorable experiences was when she was traveling to Tema to visit the school she volunteered at. While in a tro tro (a small Bus), Shaylona and other passengers were stopped by a herd of cows crossing the motorway (a mini freeway connecting Accra and Tema). This event took no longer than 15 minutes. It was an eye-opener to her that she was truly in Ghana. She explained, “Having to travel extensively on bay area highways, she could never imagine 30 Cows crossing a crowded freeway”. That event made her whole day.

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Shelby Oldenkamp is a native Californian, attending SFSU in hopes of getting into the nursing program. As some pre-nurse students know, nursing is a very impacted program and due to major budget cuts difficult to finish prerequisites. In order to not further delay her dreams of traveling and finishing her prerequisites she decided to study in Norwich, England at the University of East Anglia. Thanks to UEA's great biological science program and geographical location, Shelby was able to finish her required classes and visit a handful of countries. Her parents had a hard time coping, but Shelby could not have been more excited to take off on her yearlong adventure. While abroad she traveled to other countries every chance she got and met amazing and sure to be life long friends. To ease her mother's mind she Skyped with her frequently throughout the week. She had an amazing time away from home but found comfort in the fact everyone in San Francisco was only a Skype call away. Among the close friends she made was an Irish girl named Sinead. For Easter holiday Sinead invited Shelby to come stay with her family for the break. Having difficulty understanding Sinead a household of Irish accents left Shelby dazed and confused. Hoping to disguise her inability to follow the conversations she stayed somewhat quite but remained smiling and nodding along. At one point in a conversation she was unaware of what was being said and found her self-agreeing to being a lesbian. The family had the idea that everyone in San Francisco was of course gay and they thought she was no different. Although they were very nice and accepting, she kindly corrected them and informed them that San Francisco is full of a variety of people not just a gay community. Even though Shelby traveled to a country that spoke a familiar language, the different accents created a challenge and sometimes embarrassing situations! But what she loved the most was hearing the perceptions and ideas of others and being able to give them a better insight, as well as receiving a better understanding of the people and different lifestyles around the world.

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As a bay area native, Teagan Thompson has always admired and enjoyed the international vibe of San Francisco. A current senior at SFSU, she looks forward to graduating in May as a double-major in International Relations and Italian. Coming from a large Italian-American family, the thought of studying abroad in Italy was never a question of if, but when. Consequently, for the past year, Teagan studied abroad in Florence, Italy where she was able to grow and thrive both on an academic and personal level. Having studied Italian for two years before going abroad, living in Italy truly helped her to progress linguistically. Living abroad, Teagan took advantage of the opportunity to travel through numerous European countries. When travling through Spain, Teagan, approached with the challenge of a language barrier, used her knowledge of Italian to get around, speaking in it to everyone, knowing it is similar to Spanish. She met some Spaniards who, luckily, spoke Italian, which they were able to easily communicate in. Consequently, they thought she was Italian! Having been mistaken for a native, this was an exciting milestone for her. Back in San Francisco, Teagan continues to actively involve herself in the international community of SFSU and the city. She hopes, after graduating, to aquire a job that requires travel outside of the US, continuing her quest for worldy adventure and learning.

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Zhu Wang grew up in the South Bay Area and transferred as an upper division Business student to San Francisco State University in the Fall 2009 from De Anza College. She always knew that she wanted to study abroad and finally followed through with this thought in the Fall of 2010. She spent two semesters studying Business Administration at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. The overall experience was life changing, but one of the most valuable lessons she learned came from making a very obvious mistake in a stimulated professional environment. Zhu was given the opportunity to analyze and develop the corporate social responsibility strategy of Nestle Hungary and to present it to Mr. Csaba Santos, who is the head of the CSR department of Nestle Hungary. Throughout her academic career, Zhu always presented in a classroom environment where the audience consisted of fellow students and professors who are more than likely not personally affiliated with the topic of analysis. However, this was not the case and Zhu neglected to tailor her presentation to be more suitable for this audience. So, unintentionally, Zhu bluntly presented a negative analysis of Nestle's current CSR strategy without realizing that it would cause embarrassment to Mr. Santos. As she presented her analysis in her presentation, she noticed that Mr. Santos became very defensive. Luckily for her, Mr. Santos was fair, understanding and forgiving, and ultimately gave Zhu's group the highest grade. Zhu is grateful that this mishap occurred in a classroom environment and not during the course of her professional career.

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If you would like to know who was participating to the Peer Mentor Program in 2010, please click here .