DASNR
International
Student of the Week
Home Country: Greece
Greece or Hellas, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in south-eastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan peninsula. It is bordered by Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania to the north and by Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Both parts of the eastern Mediterranean basin, feature a vast number of islands.
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is heir to the heritages of classical Greece, the Byzantine Empire, and nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule[1]. Regarded as the cradle of western civilization and being the birthplace of democracy,[2] Western philosophy,[3] the Olympic Games, western literature, political science, major scientific principles as well as drama[4] including both tragedy and comedy, Greece has a particularly long and eventful history and a cultural heritage considerably influential in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. Today, Greece is a developed country, member of the European Union since 1981 and a member of the Eurozone since 2001. Athens, Thessaloniki, Piraeus and Patra are the country's major cities.
Source: Wikipedia.com
The flag of Greece.
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Sophia Kamenidou
November 2006
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From the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture...
This week's International Student of the Week is Sophia Kamenidou. She is from Greece located in Southern Europe and speaks both English and Greek fluently. She is working on her PhD in Plant Science. She came to the United States as an exchange student to get her undergraduate degree here at Oklahoma State University. One thing led to another and she enjoyed the Horticulture Department so much that she decided to stay at OSU to get her masters and PhD. She has been at OSU for four years now and has enjoyed every minute of it.
When Sophia is not studying or conducting research, she likes to travel to places she has not yet seen and enjoys going to the cinema to watch movies. Sophia also spends a lot of time with her husband Ioannis Oikonomakos, who is working on his PhD in Food Science. He along with Sophia came to America from Greece on an exchange program.
Sophia really likes the people and environment here at OSU. She finds everyone to be friendly and accepting, she also appreciates the competitiveness within OSU. She believes that coming to the United States gave her a chance to experience an equal opportunity, while at the same time surrounding her with many cultures she can enjoy and learn from. “I am thankful for the multicultural setting here at OSU, this is not something I would be able to see in Europe,” said Sophia.
Her future plans include staying in the US for awhile to teach horticulture and plant nutrition. After that cycle of her life she is ready to go back to Greece and pursue a career there. Since the two places are so different, she would like to gain experience and learn as much as she can from both places.
“Being an international student is hard at first and you feel like a foreigner, however, go for it and don’t hesitate and everything comes together in a magical way,” said Sophia.
Her advisor is Dr. Mike Smith.
Interview by Taryn Fast, International Ag Programs Assistant.
A beach in Greece.
Sophia Kamenidou in Greece.
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