Giselle Nekui

Giselle Nekui was accepted at Northeastern University after she finished this course at CELOP.

In Young Hwang

In Young Hwang

In Young, or Anna, who came from Bun Dang, Korea, has changed her mind from studying at the  University of California Davis to Boston University because she likes this city a lot. In order to improve her language skills and continue studying in the major of chemistry in Boston University, she is attending CELOP. After graduating, she dreams of  being a doctor or dermatologist in her country because it is a very popular profession at present. She loves watching movies, and her favorite sport is swimming. She used to play the piano as a hobby when she was young but now she quit and started to play the flute. Her favorite movies are action like “Bourne Ultimatum”. She has visited many interesting countries such as France, Austria, Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. Her favorite country is Switzerland because she loves cold weather and snow.

Prapaporn Rojsiriruch

Franklin Lacroix

This semester, my first classmate Franklin Lacroix, who is from Paris is one of the new students at CELOP.  I will introduce my new friend by telling his education, hobbies, and personality. 

Franklin wants to apply a university in the US. He started a university in Paris, in France,  called the“Sorbonne”, but now he wants to start from the beginning at a US university. This is the reason why he came to CELOP. He needs to get a high score from TOEFL. For now he thinks that he will apply to Boston University or Northeastern University which are in Boston. 

He has been here for one week and he wants to live here because his friends live in New York. He plans to visit them. Franklin is a outgoing person. He likes skiing, playing squash and playing soccer. He used to be a Dj in his country. He knows how to play a piano and a guitar. His choices on music are rock, electronic, rap and hip-hop. His favorite film is “I am Legend”. 

He loves travelling. He has already visited Turkey, Indonosia and Australia. His favorite vacation spot is Ibiza, Spain. As an outgoing person, he also likes parties. Like most of the European people, Franklin is a calm and friendly person. He shows that with his talkative personality. He feels confident while he is talking to anyone. Moreover, he is a competitive person. 

In conclusion, Franklin is one of the most interesting people in this class. He wants to live in Boston for his education. I believe that he will like this city’s energic life if he likes activities as much as he told me. 

Sevtap Duman

Sevtap Duman

During my stay at CELOP, I will have the opportunity to meet several people from different countries and cultures. CELOP is a one of a kind experience and knowing and learning about others is important. This is the presentation of one of them. Her name is Sevtap, and she’s from Ankara, which is the capital of Turkey. She’s a student in computer engineering and she’s studying at CELOP in order to have good results on the TOEFL exam.She misses home but it’s fine as she’s used to Boston and likes it, too. Her plans for the future are that she wants to get a master degree from an American university. She likes rollerblading, playing go and she used to play basketball in high school. She also plays guitar, and she’s a big fan of country music and singers like Alannis Morrisette. She also loves romantic and dramatic movies such as "The Notebook" or "A Beautiful Life". This is the first time she's away from her home country. 

Franklin Lacroix

Fernando Alvardo Blohm

Today was the first day of our class at CELOP the E050 English for Academic Purposes, Having students from different parts of the world adds more to the fact that most of us joined this class seeking to further improve our grasp of the English language. It's more like a window from which we can look at scenes from different parts of the world at one glance.

Next to me in the class today was Fernando Alvardo Blohm who is a Venezeulan who wants to become an engineer and he has already choose a career in geophysical engineering. He came to Boston about three weeks ago and finds the experience so far to be joyful and exciting. Fernando is aiming to develop his English language skills so he'll be able to apply to study the major he wants here in Boston. From the first day, it was obvious how enthusiastic he was about the CELOP experience, where usually it may take some people time to adjust and adapt to their new surroundings, he seemed to be doing pretty well in socializing with classmates and vividly participating in class; he is a guy with delightful personality.

His hobbies are numerous, like photography and with good computer skills he's also into graphic designing and editing images, He enjoys walking and jogging - which would definitely not be without thei as it is his “favorite musical instrument” - he likes different genres of music like inditronic and rock, he's also a huge movie fan; his favourite movie is "Requiem for a Dream". Fernando has travelled to many countries in South America; went to the UK and speaks different languages besides Spanish, and recalls Cancun, Mexico, as his favourite place. He enjoys adventurous activities because of the "adrenaline rush" and he hopes that one day he can do skydiving.

Bander Al-Aseeri

Jieung Im

Getting to know many people, especially new friends in your class, is a great experience because you can make new friends who come from many countries around the world. Their experiences are very interesting. Moreover, you can practice your speaking skills with them. On the first day of my intensive course in CELOP, Boston Unversity, I had a great oppoutiny to make a new friend whom really want to tell you about. Jieung Im is her name. She comes from Busan, South Korea.  She has only one elder brother. Food technology is her major, and she is a second year student of Sejong University. She took one-year off from her university and came to Boston in order to improve her English skills by taking a course at CELOP. She loves travelling and watching movies, partcularly drama and comedy. She has been to my country, Thailand, Australia, Japan and China. She can play the piano, and her most favorite sport is swimming. Going to amusement parks is another preference because she likes riding roller coasters very much. If it is possible, she really wants to enter into Boston University. However, her major might be changed since she desires to study business. Her dream is getting a job in the biggest company in her country, Samsung, after she graduates.

Duangjai Sirasoontorn

Hiroaki Minami

I would like to introduce my partner whose name is Hiroaki Minami.
He just came from Japan last week. He has been studying English and is planning to go back to Japan and study in an Environmental Program. After he got to Boston, he feels so comfortable and is enjoying living in Boston. The reason why he came to CELOP is based on his university program. That is, he could get some credits after this program.
In terms of his hobby, he is interested in taking pictures, playing soccer and running. Furthermore, his favorite movie was “I am Sam”, which is a very impressive film for me as well. Also, he learned to break dance. He has visited Cambodia and Thailand. It was very amazing experience for him.

Heejin Park

Sarah Bahammam

My partner is Sarah Bahammam from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Sarah is really smart, and she wants to be a dentist in her own country. She came to CELOP to improve her TOEFL scores and get ready for the dentistry program at Boston University. Sarah lives off-campus with her older sister who also goes to Boston University. She is a very energetic girl who loves aerobics and swimming. Moreover, Sarah started to learn hip-hop dancing in Boston recently. Because she is such a good aerobics master, Sarah will be really good at dancing, too. Her favorite type of films is comedy. She has already visited many countries, but of all of them, she loves South Africa, which is most known as ‘sun city’.

Sang Yeob Jeong (Sam)

Heejin Park

My partner's name is Heejin Park. She is from South Korea. Her major is business management. She also studied Italian at her university in Korea. She came to Boston last year for no special reason. She likes being Boston but doesn't like winter here because it is very harsh. She is going to go back to Korea and try to graduate from the university in the future. In her free time, she used to play billiards in Korea but does not anymore. She prefers dancing to singing. However, she likes to listen to music, especially American pop music as well as Korean and Japanese. Her favorite movie is "A Beautiful Mind." She has been to a lot of countries including Japan, Guam and Canada. Now she's living with a Korean girl who cannot speak Korean at all because she grew up in America.

Hiroaki Minami

Sam Jeong

The first person I talked to this morning in class is Sam Jeong. He was very friendly and sociable. I felt relaxed when  was talking to him. Sam was born in Seoul, South Korea. He studied in Korea till he reached high school, then his parents decieded to send him to canada to study there. Therefore, he graduated from high school in Canada last year. After that, he decided to continue his education here in the United States. He chose engineering for udergraduate study, although his parents wanted him to study medicine. In addition, he wants to work in the business field in the future. He is here to improve his English level especially in speaking. He likes Boston because he wants to make new friends. Sam likes to do many activities, especially to play soccer. In general, he likes music especially Korean music. He plays many instruments, for example piano and saxophone. In addition, he likes karaoki, which I think is an unusual activity. He lived in Canada, and he likes it the most. In conclusion, these are the main points about his character. I am looking forward to being friends and getting to know other people in our class.

                                                                                Sarah Bahammam

Gift Rojsiriruch

My classmate, Gift Rojsiriruch, is from Bangkok, Thailand. She was a lawyer in her country, which proves how smart she is. However, she is not just a smart girl because she is the one who can also spend her life doing other things. She likes to watch movies, sing, swim, and listen to pop and hip-hop music. She taught singing in Thailand to adult students. She also visited many countries during her vacations. She went to China, England, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and so on. Among those countries, her favorite country was India. She came to CELOP to improve her English ability, and loves Boston now.  

Anna Hwang 

Duangjai Sirasoontorn

I will introduce one of my classmates whose name is Duangjai Sirasoontorn. She comes from Bangkok, the capital city in Thailand. She was a lawyer in her country, but she is a graduate student at Boston University now. Her specific major is law of corporations, security, and commercial banking. She did not have a choice of another institute because her company already decided on BU and paid for her. Therefore, after she gets a master’s degree, she should go back to her country and work for her company. She lives in an apartment alone, even though her brother lives in Boston. That is because her brother already has had a roommate, before she came to Boston. Also, she has two younger sisters and brothers. One of them lives in Boston, and the others live in Thailand. She likes roller coaster like me. She has been to Alaska, before the fall semester began. I am glad to meet her and get to know her.

Jieung Im

Bander AL-Aseeri

My partner's name is Bander who is from Saudi Arabia, from the capital which is Riyadh, a very hot city. He arrived in Boston on September 13^th to study in the CELOP program at Boston University because Bander is an optometrist, and his goal is to get the Doctor of Optometry degree in the New England College of Optometry. He has been here for two weeks, and he feels very good about being here; he really likes to share the different cultures that this city has to offer. Bander likes to jog, and do other outdoor activities and photography; he is good with pipe musical instruments, and his favorite kind of music is Arabic and Jazz. He also has a favorite movie,“The Usual Suspect”. He has been to many places, like England, France, USA, Egypt, UAE and Bahrain. He likes skydiving and speaks English and Arabic. This is all the information that I could get from my partner, but I hope to get to know him better.

Fernando Alvarado Blohm

Meet your teacher...

I'd like to introduce myself and then invite you to introduce your classmates, using the interviews you did this week. I've been teaching at Boston University for many years, having gotten my master's and doctorate from the School of Education at BU. I've taught in several countries as well, including Argentina, Germany, Japan, Spain, and Turkey, and I've also done teacher training in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Guatemala. I love traveling and learning about other cultures, so I hope to continue doing that in the future. (The photo is from a trip to Toulouse, France in August.) My hobbies are reading historical fiction, and watching films of the same genre. I also enjoy listening to music (classical, jazz, and blues) and going to concerts and plays. The sports I like include boating, cycling, rollerblading, skiing, and swimming. I also enjoy watching sports on TV, especially the Olympics or championship games (like the Euro or World Cup). I live in Brookline on a quiet street with two cats. My daughter graduated from BU in International Relations, and she currently works in an investment firm in NY. She finds it exciting and likes life in the Big Apple!