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The Lessons of a Not-So Ordinary Life
My life took unexpected paths that challenged and fascinated me at the same time. Being born in a former Soviet state, I encountered various hardships that influenced my decision to explore educational opportunities abroad. Moldova was part of Romania until 1940 when it was taken by the Soviets and transformed into a socialist state. Although it gained its independence after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, it could not make much progress because of the continuous interference and control of Russia. It left troops in the post-Soviet frozen conflict zone Transnistria and had numerous attempts to prevent Moldova from joining the E.U. Because of this limitation of opportunities, Moldova could not develop like the European Union countries and corruption increased. My people have worked very hard to establish democracy, rule of law, and a market economy. One of the most corrupt systems was education and for this reason, I decided to explore educational experiences abroad and then return to bring the change I wanted to see in Moldova. I dreamed of being a student of one of the best universities in the world one day, but I did not know how this can happen as I did not at least know English and had no English instructors at my school. My deeply ingrained desire to learn has taken me from a small village in Moldova to Romania, Croatia, and eventually to the US. I learned many things from each of those experiences while enjoying the incredible journey and making memories along the way. My lifelong learning process through the new opportunities that arose in my life and the interesting people I have met help me develop professionally and personally. It increased my knowledge, improved my skills, and broadened my horizons.
My openness to adaption to new environments
No sacrifice, no growth
No sacrifice, no growth
Lifelong learners know how to adapt
Continuous learning of new information often requires adaptation to new environments. When I decided to explore educational opportunities abroad, I took the risk of having to adapt to a new school, country, language, and culture. In my last years of high school, I reflected on the steps that I should take for a bright career. Most of my classmates intended to continue their education in Moldova, but I was hesitant because of the corrupt system. One day I met a student doing high school in Romania, who inspired me to study abroad. I researched the educational opportunities in the neighboring country, and I was immediately enthusiastic about this possibility. I applied for a high school through the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau, and was fortunate to receive a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do the high school at the Iasi National College. At the age of 15, I moved from Moldova to Romania for a better education. This was the toughest decision of my life by then because I had to leave my family and friends and needed to stand on my own. It was a necessary sacrifice for changing my future and the seed for my evolution into a strong person. I was forced to adapt to an unknown world and to make my own decisions. Moreover, I had to start learning English individually there. Previously, I only had learned Russian and French at school in Moldova, while my Romanian classmates were already proficient in English. The professor did not have the bandwidth to teach multiple levels of English, so she recommended books for me to study alone and graded me based on my performance. Not having a professor to teach me nor the possibility to interact with my classmates in English made it difficult for me to get the appropriate pronunciation. This also caused my lack of confidence in speaking English, although I knew grammar relatively well. However, doing high school there and learning English also felt like the first step in making my dream of exploring the world into a reality. The places I wanted to go became more reachable as I learned how to adapt to new circumstances.
No pressure, no diamonds
No pressure, no diamonds
Lifelong learners know how to create their learning plans
Continuous learning requires detailed planning on how to accomplish the next goals. After graduating from high school, I decided to take the next significant step in my career. I moved to the capital of Romania for higher education and better opportunities. There I had to adapt to life in a big city and the requirements of the university level. My efforts were rewarded with internships at the Romanian Parliament, Citibank, and Romanian Commercial Bank. While interacting in English with my managers, customers, and various tourists who passed through my workplaces, I realized I should improve my speaking skills. Therefore, I applied to the Erasmus scholarship program to study abroad in English for a semester. This gave me the chance to explore Croatia and practice my English by studying and interacting with people from other countries. I had to adapt to a new university system and, more importantly, to the first program taught fully in English. At first, I almost regretted this decision because it was very hard to be as far from my family and friends. Moldova and Romania were part of the same country in the past, so the shared language and similar culture made the adaptation easier. Croatian culture was very different than mine and I never had the chance to explore it to the fullest. In despite of this, the educational opportunities and the beauty of Croatia made me enjoy the experience although it was hard to adapt to a new culture and to the idea of being far from my people.
No milestone, no opportunities
No milestone, no opportunities
Lifelong learners know how to embrace opportunities
Continuous learning requires openness to unexpected opportunities. Interestingly, a European educational program paved my way to America. During my semester abroad in Croatia, I had the opportunity to be involved in the X-Culture global business competition. I got to work for two months, virtually, with students from Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Grenada, and the United States. As I qualified for the final step of the competition in Miami, I had the chance to visit the USA for the first time. I was impressed by the size and technology of the university, as well as the openness of the professors where the competition was held. I dreamed of being a student in America one day and I decided to work to make it a reality. When I returned to Romania, I looked for funding opportunities to study in the USA. I discovered the Fulbright scholarship program and I applied. I worked very hard to get to a better English score as most of the other applicants learned English from a young age. After almost one year with five competitive steps, I have been informed that I was elected as a Fulbright scholar. I got admitted to Texas A&M University and subsequently moved to the United States. Here I had to adapt to another new university system, with much higher demands than my previous institutions. But, I also had many opportunities. The best one that I have been working on is helping establish the first space center inside the university.
Through all these experiences, I learned to embrace opportunities while accepting challenges. Professional and personal development require sacrifice and sometimes even pressure. Learning things the hard way is painful but in most cases - beneficial. Finding ways to enjoy each experience along the way makes the journey worth the effort.
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