Katya said “When I just arrived to Arkansas I said to myself all the time, ‘hmm, it’s all so weird, why on earth do they do this or that?’… But upon coming back to Russia, I said the same about everything in my city.”

Katya Romanova was a visiting student during the 2010-2011 academic year. As I posted the blog article by Stevan, I got to learn Katya was trying to organize a Human Library Program in Russia. Here’s an article from her regarding her project and also her experience in Fayetteville. This is very inspiring and such a great example of your study abroad experience will continue even after going back home.

Here we go:

Katya in front of Old Main

I miss Fayetteville a lot. Its comfy atmosphere, my work at ‘CAT’ (Community Access Television), our creative proactive team of international students, Thai food (I’m an addict;), countless trips and adventures, residents of Hillcrest Tower and watching a sunset on the second floor of Public Library… And you can probably never imagine what it means for a Russian girl to be able to bike the whole year round or walk barefoot in January! That was the best winter in my life indeed!

I came back home with depression and a textbook with ideas of projects I was eager to organize in Nizhny Novgorod. So, a couple of months later, I ‘embarked’ on preparation of Human Library with my friends.

I took part in this project as a “reader” and a “human book” at University of Arkansas, and the program impressed me a lot with its unusual form. I loved the idea of bringing such diverse people together and raise awareness about social issues in quite an entertaining and informal way.

Human Library

Human Library in Nizhny Novgorod turned out to be a big success – it attracted about 200 participants who came to talk with human books, 18 books in total. Books were a hitchhiker, gay, family with adopted children, orphan, transsexual, HIV positive, Muslim woman and social worker.

I often got frustrated while working on the project but what made me keep going is support of my friends worldwide and inspiration from their great projects. By the way, this project was quite an international one because our designer was from Canada and web-designers was from Moscow, plus, we consulted organizers of Human Libraries from everywhere. I think that my experience of studying and living abroad changed my perception of the world – I somehow feel that everything is so interconnected and you can do so many things together as a team, that was part of motivations for me to make the Human Library Program here successful!

Katya

Thank you, Fayetteville and friends I met there.

Love from Russia.

By Katya Romanova, IREX Student 2010-2011

Photos by Alyona Antsygina