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11 young Armenian-Americans joined Assembly country director Arpi Vartanian at a briefing this summer.

Deanna was one of 11 young Americans of Armenian descent visiting Armenia this summer, an opportunity created by the Assembly’s Summer Internship Program that the organizers say aims to introduce college-aged students to life in their ancestral homeland and to foster the skills needed to help them become the next generation of leaders. (Among this year’s group, Deanna Cachojan-Schanz, a literature major at Sarah Lawrence College, served her internship at ArmeniaNow. To read more of Deanna’s essay, click here)

The Armenia Internship Program was established in 1999 to provide an opportunity for Armenian-Americans to visit their ancestral homeland and at the same time volunteer at organizations helping local people. Participants intern at governmental ministries, media outlets, medical centers, and non-governmental organizations.

The Assembly says the program offers youth an exceptional opportunity to interact both professionally and socially with counterparts in Armenia during eight weeks from mid-June to mid-August.

“My stay in Armenia has been different this year. The largely idealistic vision of my short three-week stay last summer has been replaced with a more realistic sense of optimism,” writes Christian Garbis Ohanian, who had spent his last summer working for Habitat for Humanity in Armenia in 2006. “Before returning to Armenia this summer I knew my experience would be different. Unlike the previous summer, I would be working as an intern at an NGO, researching the issue of Armenia and European Integration. Through my research I have gained a deeper, though not complete, understanding of some of the circumstances in this country . . .” (To read more of Christian’s essay, click here.)

But it’s more about emotional interaction between the segments of a people scattered over the globe, too frequently unable to speak the same language…

“I am pretending to sleep. My head is resting on my gigantic pillow. My eyelids are shut close giving my brain the necessary support to enter dream mode. However, my throat is too busy blasting an impromptu symphony of coughs for all of Yerevan to hear. But is anyone besides me listening? And if they are, does anyone care that I, some dude from New York, has caught a cold? The feelings of isolation and alienation begin to overwhelm me. I am hundreds of miles away from my family, from my American medicine and my American doctors,” writes Haig Kherlopian, another participant to the program. “My loneliness finds company when my Host Mom enters my room worried like my mother. She asks, “Hivant es?” I respond back in a curious combination of Armenian and English that I hope she will be able to decode. “IO, yes Hivant em, cough drops have?” My host mother and I have an interesting way of communicating with each other since I don’t speak much Armenian and she doesn’t speak much English.” (To read more of Haig’s essay, click here)

And exploring the modern-day life in the ancient land of the ancestors …

“Upon rising, around 7:15 a.m., just 15 minutes after our water hours began (we can only use water in the apartment between 7 am-10am and 6 pm-9pm), I loaded some intimates and essentials into our front load washing machine. Step 1: check. I picked up the detergent, shook some into the “right-looking” side-compartment on the machine. Step 2: check. Wash day was going swimmingly. But, as I looked over at the buttons, ready to tear open my Armenian dictionary and translate with my new, emboldened language skills, I realized that the language they were written was Russian. Russian, I did not sign up for this. Conveniently, I live with a Russian speaker who was, however, inconveniently sleeping. I was on my own- no language skills, no turning back. I was trailblazing new paths right there in my modest kitchen next to the fruit basket and portable stovetop. I guessed at a few buttons, shrugged, and let ‘er go,” writes Samantha Kyrkostas. (To read more of Samantha’s essay, click here)

The Assembly is currently seeking applicants for next summer’s intern program. Undergraduate or graduate students of Armenian decent, who will have completed at least two years at a 4-year accredited university or college by the start of the program are eligible. To learn more, or to apply, visit the Armenian Assembly of America website at: www.aaainc.org

Another internship opportunity with the Assembly is the organization’s Terjenian-Thomas Assembly Internship Program which offers college students of Armenian descent an opportunity to live and work in Washington, D.C. also for eight weeks each summer. The program includes internship, lecture series and social activities. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this November, the program has hosted nearly 800 interns of Armenian descent living in the United States and abroad. Further information may be found at the address above.