Inside HULT’s #Globalgeneration
rior to Hult, I thought I was very well exposed to the world’s diverse cultures. I was wrong.
Coming from a family of Russian diplomats, I spent my life moving from one place to another. It all started with me being born in Prague, Czech Republic. I wish I could say that I remember anything from there, but we moved back to Moscow when I was a year old. Six years later, my family moved to China where we spent 6 years living and loving the culture. I used to ride a bicycle on the streets of Beijing, speak basic Mandarin when shopping and take Tae-kwon-do classes with the teacher who barely spoke any English. When I turned 16, my mother was offered another
diplomatic rotation to Washington, D.C., which she unhesitatingly accepted with the thought of a great education she can offer me by coming to the United States. I’ve spent 5 years in the United States thus far, where I attended a typical American high school and university.
In high school, I made friends with two sisters from France, and girls from Turkey, Egypt, and Kyrgyzstan. We stayed as a tight crew of friends throughout my undergraduate degree, during which I chose to start studying Arabic in my spare time after school. The teachers and students I met at university made me fall in love with the culture. I was listening to Arabic songs in
my car, taking my friends to Arabic cafes, watching Arabic TV shows, and sharing with everyone I could the beauty of the culture. I found myself solely interested in the ongoing happenings of the political events in the Middle East, unlike my friends.
During the years of switching to different schools due to my parents’ diplomatic careers, I studied French, German and Spanish. I thought I was very well exposed to different cultures before Hult, due to the aforementioned reasons. But I was wrong. I never imagined that being accepted to an “International Business School” would mean “International” to the depth of its core.
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By: Maria Golovashchenko
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