An international student from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Aziza Arifkhanova's mother tongue is Uzbek. Russian was the language of instruction in her secondary school. She taught herself English, and somewhere along the line she managed to acquire a "basic knowledge" of Spanish. Four languages.

Since middle school, Aziza has enjoyed "traveling, learning languages and the different customs and cultures of nations." In high school, she discovered an interest in Economics. When she entered community college, she enrolled in as many courses as she could. But it wasn't until she arrived at Florida State did she realize she could combine International Affairs and Economics by carrying a double major.

A superb student, Aziza has appeared on the President's and Dean's List at Florida State and on the National Dean's List. She has been inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies, and last year she was awarded the Bill Peterson Endowed Scholarship for Distinguished Economics Majors.

Her research project, "The Origins of the Schengen Agreement," was presented at the Honors in the Major Symposium in April. Her thesis examines the political and economic impact on the European Community of this 1985 Agreement. The "Schengen" provides for the gradual abolishment of border controls to ease the movement of people living within the participating countries—a total of 26, including all European Union states (except Ireland and the United Kingdom) and the non-EU members—Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

Aziza extends her natural facility with foreign languages to other international students by volunteering at FSU's Center for Intensive English Studies. She seems to fit in nicely at Florida State, a place she will always remember as having "a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere, where everybody is happy to assist a student."