Stories

The NSLI-Y program languages include Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Indonesian, Hindi, Korean, Persian (Tajiki), Russian and Turkish. Listed below are all multimedia stories written, and shared by NSLI-Y students, alumni, partners, and supporters. These stories include all NSLI-Y program languages and are ordered chronologically from the most recent post.

Alumni and current students, join the conversation by submitting your own story.

Click on a language below to see stories and media related to a specific NSLI-Y program language:

Displaying stories from 2020.

Evangelista on Baicheng Beach in Xiamen, China

Chinese (Mandarin)

Advice from an Alumna

Evangelista is from Marietta, GA and an alumna of the 2012 Chinese Summer program in Suzhou, China. She also served as a Resident Director for the 2019 Chinese Summer program in Xiamen, China. Dear Future NSLI-Y Students, Congratulations on embarking on this new adventure! Seeing all of you get excited about this program makes me so happy and brings back a lot of fond memories.
Alexandra with her Russian Textbook

Russian

Culture and Regional Security: From Kalinka to Kievan Rus’

Alexandra is from New York, NY and an alumna of the Russian 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. On the last day of NSLI-Y VSI, I gave a bilingual presentation about the history of the Russo-Georgian War and ethnopolitics in the Caucasus. I had entered five weeks prior with zero knowledge of Russian beyond...
Marguerite with the Korean books she read during her VSI program

Korean

Experiencing Korean Culture Virtually

Marguerite is from Paramus, NJ and an alumna of the Korean 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. You would think that it is impossible to experience a culture virtually. That’s definitely what I thought when I heard that NSLI-Y would be going virtual. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there would be multiple cultural activities...
Lara-Nour Walton

Arabic

Connections that Transcend Proximity

Lara-Nour is from Evanston, IL and an alumna of the Arabic 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. I could almost smell the mint tea through the screen. Steam billowed from the glass cup my teacher Soukayna was holding as she explained how to prepare the perfect Moroccan tea...
Tasmin with her dumplings before cooking

Chinese (Mandarin)

Making 馄饨汤

Tasmin is from Huntington Beach, CA and an alumna of the Chinese 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. Last summer, I was fortunate enough to participate in the NSLI-Y Mandarin Virtual Summer Intensive. Our classes were conducted online, with a small group of NSLI-Y students...
Mikaela and her fellow cohort members in the Sahara desert

Arabic

Mikaela (was) in Morocco: A NSLI-Y Arabic Reflection

Mikaela is from Bradenton, FL and an alumna of the Arabic 2019 Summer program in Rabat, Morocco. My NSLI-Y notification couldn’t have come at a better...
Karim displaying the Pajeon he made

Korean

Learning Korean Virtually: A Reflection

Karim is from Tampa, FL and an alumnus of the Korean 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. Throughout the months of July and August, Karim took on the adventure
a picture of Xenia holding up her OPI score

Arabic

Morocco through Microsoft

Xenia is from Carlisle, PA and an alumna of the Arabic 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. I was recently in a meeting with the president of my college and ...
An image of Sawyer holding a sign that reads "çok teşekkürler" or thank you so much. The sign is yellow and has the Turkish flag on it.

Turkish

Expectations Exceeded: Learning Virtually During a Pandemic

Sawyer is from Kensington, NH and an alumnus of the Turkish 2020 Virtual Summer Intensive program. Participating in the Virtual NSLI-Y Turkish Summer 2020 Prog...