Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505080039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And for Ivanov that was 12 hours too long, so he reconsidered.
The Pskov State Pedagogical Institute was just as good as Moscow's, he thought, plus he could live at home.
So that's where he started his education four years ago. But he finished it Saturday at Roanoke College.
The English major graduated from the school he transferred to in the fall of 1993.
"One of the things I dreamed of in high school was to graduate from an American college. It's kind of a dream come true in a way," he said. "It's strange in retrospect. I never believed that it would happen, but it did."
Ivanov's dream became a reality thanks to a 1992 Roanoke College pledge. Shortly after a sister-city relationship was established with Pskov, the school promised to offer a scholarship to a Pskov student.
A year later, Ivanov became that student.
"I was very scared. I didn't even know where Salem was," he said.
But he knew where America was, and as a teen it had been a symbol of freedom. Once here, it became independence.
The home that years ago Ivanov couldn't bear to abandon, he hasn't seen in two years. His family won't make it to graduation, either.
"My family is always going to be there, but opportunities might not be," he said.
Still, he misses them. He writes and calls them and his friends on a monthly basis.
There were other sacrifices, like MTV Europe and Russian dance clubs, for the bespectacled and pony-tailed Ivanov.
But make no mistake about it. He's no twenty-something slacker.
Although in Russia there's no such thing as a grade-point average, he gave in to America's obsession with grades and calculated his. In Russia it was about a 3.95; here it's about a 3.4.
"I've been kind of stressed about [grades]. I felt like I had to justify my being here," he said.
So he studied constantly.
Now "English is almost like a mother tongue to me," he said, his accent barely audible.
He had been a student of the language for years in Russia, getting serious about it his senior year in high school, when he took private lessons.
At the Pskov institute, he'd spend three to four hours a day, every day, studying English. Once in America, he did homework night and day, many times not even letting up on Friday and Saturday night.
The hard work paid off. Now, he's analyzing Shakespeare.
His American experience, however, has meant more than good grades.
In his two years in the United States, he has done more and seen more than many natives.
He found a little pizza joint in Ironto, hiked Dragons Tooth and ventured to the Cascades in Giles County.
He has been to Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Greensboro and Charlotte.
He would like to spend the next year exploring - northeast first to see New York and Boston, then west to Seattle, Los Angeles and maybe even Arizona. He says he would love to spend a couple of weeks in the desert, even though he isn't particularly fond of the sun.
He hopes to start graduate school next year. And this time when he selects a school, there are no limits.
"At this point, I'm open to any school or country where I can study linguistics," he said. "I want to do as much traveling around the world as possible. I always wanted to, and now that I've done it once, it will be easier to do it again."
by CNB