I had always struggled with these kinds of things. Oh, just be honest, they said, just write whatever you like to do and simply try to explain who you are. But what they did not know is that that was the hardest question you could have asked a fifteen-year-old Azra.
I was born and raised in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo. Most of my life I have spent there, but the last two years are an exception. The last two years I have spent in an “adjective-missing” Mostar. I say “adjective-missing” (as if that is a word) because Mostar is just that. Or at least is my perception of it – my United World College perception. And that is indeed something that deserves its own word. A word that would include all the good, and all the bad, because, I must be honest, some situations belonged in the latter spectrum. But when something like that, something bad, would happen, the adjective-missing hero was there to lift me up. To remind me that, if I am uncomfortable – in deep pain, angry, confused, or whatever else – I do not have a problem, but I have a life. As I once read: “You will never change the fact that being human is hard, so you must change your idea that it was ever supposed to be easy.”
And that is exactly what I learned at United World College in Mostar. Among other things, it taught me so much – to look at the world from different perspectives, to act when needed, and to sometimes just be still for a moment. Because some ideas and some experiences are important enough to consider deeply. And one of those was indeed my United World College in Mostar experience.
And that is why I enrolled at Lewis & Clark College. From what I have seen, I believe that it will be a part of those experiences that will shape me in the best way possible.
I cannot express the level of excitement I have for, hopefully, arriving on campus in August. Although I do not have a clear picture of what I will major in, I just know that it will involve working with people. I also hope to continue developing my German speaking skills.
I’m going to Lewis & Clark because of numerous reasons – from the liberal arts education part, the great location of the stunning campus, to the liberal community and people that will simply be my people. That is exactly what I hope to accomplish at L&C – to create bonds with new people and a brand new bond with myself.