Living My Dream
Gulsanam Abasova, Azerbaijan
I had a dream to experience life in the U.S. I was searching and applying for different programs and finally I got accepted to the Global UGRAD Program. That was the best day of my life! I was looking for it for so many years and, after failing a few times, I was even about to give up. But I still had a dim light somewhere deep inside. After I got accepted my light flamed up.
My semester at the University of Wisconsin, Superior was full of joy, bright moments and was just perfect. I enjoyed every single day. I’ve never felt homesick, because my life here in the U.S. was so colorful and filled with super interesting moments that I didn’t have a chance to miss home. I have never been surrounded with so many international students from all over the world. Some of them became my best friends, and with some I am going to maintain good relationships. Every single person left something inside me, which you can just feel but is hard to put into words.
I now understood my personality better. I was always wandering somewhere in between, and couldn’t decide which personality I belonged to. Now I can say that I found myself. My world outlook has expanded, and I see that it doesn’t matter where people are from, at the end we are all the same. Knowing this fact makes me so happy. Now I am becoming an alum, which was my aim at the end – still hard to believe it, but this is happening right now. Being an alum of this United States-supported program means a lot to me. These are invaluable memories, experiences, and life changing moments. In addition, it also means that I am going to be the one who will contribute to the society, share knowledge and experience, and help to better and improve the world. Because we were the ones who were helped, grown and educated, not only in terms of school education, but also in terms of life education. And now it’s our turn to contribute and help others. To conclude, “Once a UGRAD, always a UGRAD!” will stay with me until the very end.