“I am the perfect version of me.”
- Besa Kosova
What I loved most about my experience at the United World College in Mostar (UWCiM) is that it wasn’t perfect – not in the classical sense of complete, flawless or impeccable. I flinch from describing it as “the best time of my life” because I consider growing up surrounded by mountains in Innsbruck (Austria) not more or less perfect than living in the war-torn city Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
My time at UWCiM was an emotional roller coaster hallmarked by constant up and downs, failure and success, despair and happiness. It was simply a unique experience - a perfect version of itself - and made out of young adults, what I call the perfect version of them. At UWCiM I saw people running around in underwear and dragon costumes/pyjamas (I am still not sure what it was exactly), I saw them going to school with a spoon and a bowl of muesli (ok, that was me I admit it, I didn’t have time to eat and I was hungry) or hiding for hours with toothbrush and toothpaste in locked up closets just to spend a night with their girl/boyfriends. No one cared about how they looked, as long as they were the perfect version of themselves.
It was incredible to experience what complete, flawless, impeccable outcomes were achieved when these (im)perfect versions of students worked together.
I was flying by the seat of my pants when considering Lewis and Clark for my future study plan. Two days before the final application deadline I still had no idea of where to go or what to study. Being totally haphazard, I started searching for a place I would like to live for the upcoming four years. Consequently, it was Lewis and Clark’s location that caught my eye first. The enormous amount of outdoor activities offered encouraged my passion in sports as well as satisfied my curiosity in exploring the nature. Besides, the cultural opportunities provided in Portland supported my high exaltation for the performing arts medium. Concerning academics, a Liberal Arts Education offered the preliminary solution for my indecisiveness as it temporarily reprieved the determination of my major for which I consider Biology, Theatre and International Relations.
For now, as I do not have any further expectations or ideas about Lewis and Clark I intend to determine my aims once I get familiar with the new environment. What I hope to accomplish is a major, in a not yet defined subject, while being nothing more than the perfect version of myself that loves eating (especially chocolate) listening to other people talk (not to forget, talking myself), going for a walk (to flatter my soul), day dreaming (I was master of it when I was 7), traveling (though the only time I left Europe was this summer) and looking at the stars (as it is the only landscape which is visible in any part of the world).