The following is a reflection sent from a former student who was enrolled in Tufts Russian Summer course.
I am currently in Lviv. I have remained in Ukraine during the war in order to make myself useful. I relocated to Lviv from Kyiv about 2 months ago in anticipation of something like this happening, and I was thankfully able to get my loved ones to safety soon after the war began.
I wanted to write to you because I wanted to tell you how incredibly useful everything I learned from you has been in my four years in this country. My knowledge of Russian (as well as Ukrainian, which I have been able to easily learn over my time here because it is very similar to Russian) and of the culture and history of this part of the world have been indispensable.
Over the past few days, my girlfriend and I have been working as a translating and fixing team for an American journalist. I interpreted interviews with families from Kharkiv, Mariupol, and Bakhmut, a town on the contact line in Donetsk Oblast. I have been able to put what you taught me at Tufts to use in making a difference in the world.
I didn't show it with how I performed as a student, but I am profoundly grateful for what you taught me and the patience you showed me.
Всего самого доброго,
Joel
