In Rio de Janeiro, Nicholas studied Sociology at Pontifica Universidad Catholica Do Rio De Janerio (PUC-Río) during the day and spent his evenings at the gym, volunteering with children, learning and experiencing the different cultures in Brazil from the classrooms to the inner city.

Prior to the academic year Aaron spent in Russia as a National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) participant, he had only given a few speeches to an audience – in English. A native of Portland, ME, Aaron never imagined that during his year abroad he would speak in Russian to an audience of World War II veterans.