Testimonial by Eloise Stevens

Studying at Aspirantum was an extremely enriching experience. Prior to arriving in Armenia I knew very little about the country, its people and its history. However, given the ideal setting of Aspirantum and the fact that Khachik arranged many amazing trips to places of interest throughout the country, allowed us to explore and learn a great deal about Armenia’s culture and history. These opportunities gave me a unique window into both the Armenian and Persian souls, through which I have gained a deeper understanding of their language and people.

Our teachers, Vardan and Ani were extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Their style of teaching and the structure of our classes were very clear and our lessons covered such a broad range of topics. We also were able to improve all language skills including writing, speaking and listening. As a class we also covered current global issues and read multiple news articles. Each week we were given a small topic on which we wrote an essay, then at the end of the week we would present these to the class. As time went on we were encouraged to use our notes less and by the end of the semester we were all able to present without many notes quite freely, which was a great improvement for us all. Aspirantum gave me a unique opportunity to gain insight into Persian language, culture and history both inside and out of the classroom. I am very grateful to Khachik and his team for this experience, and I hope to return to Armenia in the future.

As I am studying Russian and Persian, I had the unique opportunity to speak Russian every day in Armenia and Khachik was able to arrange Russian classes for me with Aleona. These classes were not only extremely helpful but also very enjoyable and interactive. Aleona would take us into real life situations to help us improve our conversational Russian, for example, we went to a supermarket together.