News Article Release

Midshipmen Share Experiences From Semester in Ukraine

March 29, 2012

By MC3 Danian Douglas

A group of Naval Academy midshipmen who studied in Ukraine last semester recently shared their experiences with their fellow students during a Saturday Morning Training presentation in Rickover Hall.

Midshipman 2nd Class Todd A. Gerald was one of the midshipmen who presented photos from the trip and shared the cultural and historical knowledge he gained from his interactions with his host family in the capital city Kiev and other Ukrainian locals.

“Our presentation was part of a debriefing process designed to share our experiences with fellow midshipmen, especially the plebes, so they can plan ahead if they decide to pursue a study abroad program,” said Gerald.

Gerald found that living with a Ukrainian family in particular was a very rewarding experience, providing him with a deeper insight into the culture and history of the country.

Midshipman 1st Class Jonathan Englert was primarily focused on immersing himself in the Russian language.

“We had roughly three to four hours a day learning Russian,” said Englert. “Starting off, my grammar and vocabulary was horrible. I couldn’t have a good conversation with my hosts for the first month or two. Now I can at least have a regular conversation beyond just asking for food or saying hello.”

Normally, the Ukrainians could identify the students as Americans by their accents. Englert took it as a sign that he was grasping the nuances of the language when a Ukrainian gentleman asked him if he was German instead, he said.

The trip was an important experience for the midshipmen because they would be better able to understand the complexities of the enormous Russian-speaking region of the world, said Catherine O’Neil, associate professor of Russian in the academy’s Languages and Culture Department.

O’Neil emphasized that studying and speaking Russian has a much larger implication than just speaking the language or knowing about the region.

“Midshipmen understand that we’re inheriting the Soviet legacy which impacted much of the region we know today, such as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and even Georgia and Azerbaijan,” she said. “Ukraine, for example, is a Russian-speaking country but with very different historical, political and social tendencies.”

Living in the country and speaking the language with natives on a daily basis gives future officers necessary experience in an area where the U.S. military has a strong presence, said O’Neil.