Nico Magana

Hello! My name is Nico, and I’m so excited to be one of your peer mentors along with Olga and to get to know and work with you all! I’m a senior, and I’m from Long Island, New York. My concentration in Comparative Literature is in Spanish literature, specifically Latin American literature, and I’m also an English major in the Creative Writing capstone program! I started my journey in CompLit when I was a junior, and the moment I took my first class, I immediately fell in love, which is funny because when I first came to Michigan, I envisioned myself studying something in STEM! Outside of school, I love to watch movies, journal, cook, and take care of plants! (I have many plants, I am slowly running out of space for them…). I would say that finding out about CompLit is probably one of the best things that has happened to me, and the CompLit department at UofM is truly special. Every class that I’ve taken has been so unique and the professors are just incredible. I am so excited to work with the Department of Comparative Literature along with Olga this semester to organize events where we can meet other CompLit majors and Translation Studies minors and have fun! We have some exciting things coming up, so expect to hear from us soon!

 

Olga Yatsenka

Hi everyone! My name is Olga (She/They) and I am one of your peer mentors! I am very excited to work with Nico getting to know all of you and your interests! As for me, I am a junior and transfer student from a small community college in California. And yes, I do not know how I survived the winter… Fun fact, the University of Michigan was my dream school because of the Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages department. This is my first year studying Comparative Literature. Some things I love doing as of late are listening to Polish music, playing Zelda, trying all sorts of teas, reading Dune, and rewatching Bridgerton. In CompLit, my languages are Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, and Polish. My favorite thing about the CompLit department is how there is no limit to what we can do in this field of study, and the amazing support of the department! I am very excited to be part of that support for you. Be on the lookout for emails from us in your inbox about upcoming events where you will get to meet fellow CompLit majors and Translation minors! See you soon, friends!