Photo by Christina VanHorn

"Get out there and get involved." Most students see their best shot at doing that in the Study Abroad Program. Located in the Hood House, everything you need in order to go explore another country is right at your fingertips. One thing that requires a little finesse is the signature and blessings from the woman in charge of it all, Marina Markot.

Markot has been the Coordinator of Student Programs in the Center for International Education since September of 2001. Coming to UNH only seven days before the World Trade Center bombing, Markot said she was shocked when the demand to go overseas was not significantly diminished. She remembered how challenging those first few weeks were.

"It was hard because when I first started, I didn't know personally the people who were away and when it happened, I had to account for students being okay. Some of them who were supposed to fly home were stranded in airports across the country for days."

Markot said students returned home okay, but the life of a study abroad advisor and geography professor Bob LeBlanc, had been lost, as he was on the second plane to hit the towers. Markot said next September the Hood House is going to dedicate their resource library collection in his name with a plaque of remembrance.

While obtaining her Ph.D in Linguistics from St. Petersburg University in St. Petersburg, Russia, Markot spent two semesters in the UK studying translation and language teaching methodology. She supported her studies by working summers as a tour guide in St. Petersburg and as a cook for a geological survey party in the Siberian wilderness. After 10 years on the faculty of St. Petersburg University she opened and taught at her own language school. Later she lived in Hamburg, Germany, teaching, translating and managing a film-production company.

Once she met her husband and came to the United States, she worked at New England College in International Education, which allowed her to pursue her ambitions to travel more and get students involved as well. Markot then came to UNH because of the attractive Study Abroad Programs available to students as well as the International Affairs dual major.

"I always wanted to learn about different languages," said Markot, who speaks German, Russian, and English fluently. "I can get by with a few others, like French. I'll never forget the time I met a Dutch tourist in France and we were both buying train tickets. We were talking for a minute and then she said she was very surprised to find out that I wasn't French." Laughing, she said, "The first time I studied abroad was during the times of the Iron Curtain, and going to London was like going to Mars!"

As a woman who has seen so many diverse cultures, Markot said it was all very different in Russia. "Issues like sexual harassment," Markot said, "cannot even be easily translated into Russian because they just wouldn't understand what you were talking about. In a way, it is viewed as a part of the "gender role play." If a man were to slap you on your butt, you can say 'oh you dirty dog,' and you could slap him across the face, but yes, it's very different."

"In the Soviet Union, women had equal rights and pay as men. It's just the way it was," she said. "Moreover, women even took over the responsibilities in the home and work force because so many of the men went off to war and died during Stalin's repression."

Markot explained that even though women assumed higher roles at home, the glass ceiling concept still applied. "Women's chances of getting high up in the hierarchy were difficult. There were very few women in government."

In her view, growing up in Russia, Markot was presented with endless possibilities.

"Everyone was extremely supportive," she said, "Right from the elementary level through high school, people had you believing that you could do anything you set your sights on. If you work hard, you can do anything. My mother always told me it was important to have my own life, even when I was to get married."

When asked about her comments on the United States woman's liberation situation in the 1970's, she said, "I don't know, because I really grew up with the assumption that it was already a done deal. Women were already liberated."

Markot, continuing an old Russian pastime, loves collecting and cooking with wild mushrooms. "I pick them everywhere I can find them," she said. "I have done it all my life."

A few places Markot has not traveled to yet and would like to are South East Asian countries such as Korea, China, and Japan, along with Africa. "I've seen Africa from two different coasts, but haven't actually been there yet."

She advises students to not only study abroad, but also, "Never stop learning. Constantly upgrade!" she said. "There is so much to learn and life is full of interesting things!"