Hello! I still remember arriving in Yerevan as if it were yesterday, and almost 10 years later, I am thinking about it with my heart full of love and appreciation. After graduating from UWCD and moving to the USA to continue my college experience, it took me some time to process the UWC experience, which was filled with a wide variety of emotions and experiences that I will never forget. I was very lucky to be the first student to arrive and part of the first generation. When I left Costa Rica, my dad almost had a heart attack, as it was my first time leaving the country on my own, and due to my flight connections, I had to stay in Frankfurt, Germany for a couple of days. However, my family was reassured shortly after I sent them pictures of beautiful Yerevan as well as me enjoying Armenian goodies. The first few months at UWC were interesting, exciting, and weird. There were all these amazing things I was experiencing, including meeting interesting people and exploring things I had never explored before, but I also spoke almost zero English, so I only understood about 15% of what was going on. I was very lucky to have amazing people translating for me and encouraging me to learn English. There are things that I will never forget and that are worth mentioning because whenever I tell stories about UWC, I keep coming back to those. Here are a few:

• Dolmama evenings
• Forest evening walks
• Yerevan stayovers
• Late-night study sessions at the academic building
• Room gatherings and food sharing
• Chicken nuggets sprinting
• Birthdays (lol)
• Movie nights and discussions
• Random late-night talks
• Theater
• Project weeks
• Finals
• Cigui or study breaks
• Road trips
• Lavash and Nutella
• Armenian food and culture
• Armenians

I miss Armenia and I miss UWC, especially having everybody so close. I am extremely thankful I got to experience all these beautiful things and the ability to develop long-lasting relationships. I have been living in a small town in PA near the Pittsburgh area, where I worked at a private club for three and a half years in their business development, marketing, and food and beverage departments. About a year ago, I started an MBA in Business Analytics which I will be finishing up this year. About six months ago, I stopped working as I wanted to take a break and finish my studies. It has been nice having more time to cook, exercise, go for walks, and practice BJJ. In the next few months, I will be moving to a warmer area (I cannot take the dark PA winters anymore, haha) close to the beach and away from the noise of the city. I want to slow down, get more sun exposure, swim, and work from home.

I miss you all and I hope to see you in a couple of years for our 10-year generation gathering… Woo! We’re getting old! I hope you are aging well.