Let’s bring out the history books and see how I got to where I am today. Rather than bore you with which hospital I was born in or what the name of my second grade teacher was (Mr. Oliver, FYI, and he was the best), I’ll skip to the part of my life that I believe sparked my current journey.
I was told in the beginning of tenth grade that my father would be moving our family to Istanbul, Turkey, where I would need to finish my last two years of high school at an international school. Gone were the days of rec basketball, trick-or-treating, yard sales, and block parties. I was soon to be surrounded by the Grand Bazaar, Doner Kebab, and hearing the call to prayer playing five times a day, regardless of where you were. For a kid who’d spent the majority of his childhood in the Maryland suburbs, my two years in Istanbul were a culture shock to say the least.
However, I should note, that this was the second major move in my life since moving to the United States from my mother’s native Russia at the age of five.
Unlike in my Maryland public school where my Russian-American identity was unique, I was suddenly no longer alone in Istanbul. I befriended an Italian-Turk who spoke fluent French, a Swedish-Colombian, and a Russian-Arabic speaker, among many others. I was shocked at how regularly different languages were spoken, and for how many of my peers that code-switching between two or more languages was second nature.
Istanbul became a turning point in my life that sparked my curiosity in different cultures and languages, and made me more aware of my own two cultures as well.
Istanbul is also where a film class sparked my interest in the study of visual storytelling. After writing a senior film thesis in high school, I went on to study film at the University of Vermont, where I furthered my knowledge of the film discipline.
Flash forward to today, where I am now a Master’s candidate in Translation and Localization Management at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. So far, I have been learning the fundamentals of the Localization industry, taking classes relating to project management, localizing websites, international design, and translation technology. I am learning so many new things about a field I was previously unaware of. I’m excited for what the future holds and hope that my journey will continue leading me into a direction where my unique perspectives and skill set can be put to use.
