Thoughts on my Studying Abroad Experience

    And here I am studying my degree in the United States of America.  I never thought once in my life that I would be studying abroad anywhere.   However, there is this person who is heavily involved in my life gave this idea and kept pushing me forward in order to seek success and achieve my life goals.  It is my mother, the greatest influence in my life.  The single parent who kept struggling her entire life providing the best education possible and shelter to her two children.  She even gave up the idea of marrying again just to raise us well and make us become the best versions of our selves.  She is the reason why I am here writing this essay.  And I never will be able to reciprocate her favor.

    I started studying English first since it is my second language in San Diego for a year and a half.  What an exquisite place to live in and study.  With its great weather and very kind people.  Moreover, the numerous beaches in this great city that I never managed to visit all of them.  It is also quite diverse with people living in it from all over the world that I made many friendships with people from several nationalities.  One Italian friend I still communicate until now who is also studying abroad now in Austria.  A very kind friend who also opened my horizon to many things in this life.  San Diego was an experience that shaped my personalty into very different one.  Hence I am no longer the same Khalid who came from Saudi Arabia.  A complete transition in life.


   After finishing my ESL program, now it is time to start applying for universities.  With a science major, I would need to reach a level of English proficiency that is parallel to a native speaker in order to be accepted in a school with a Biology major.  So I took the TOEFL test, a test that measures your language proficiency.   fortunately,  I got a very high score.  Now I am ready to start pursuing my degree.  With the idea of knowing that one of my friends used to study in Saint Norbert College.  I asked him if I should apply to this school, and he highly recommended it to me, saying that it one of the best schools I would study in.  Therefore, I applied to it and got accepted.  So excited I was when I saw my acceptance letter in the mail.  Days have passed, and my first semester started in January 2016, and I was so oblivious on how the weather would be in De Pere, since I never experienced snow and very cold weather in my life. Therefore, it was hard for me at the beginning, but I manged to get used to it hopefully.


   Now I am currently at the very end of my Fall semester, my second semester. Very challenging semester it was due the science classes I have taken.  However, I am very positive that I am going to succeed.  Not just for me, but also for my mother, the person who made all of this possible for me.  And the day will come where I will make her proud to be mother.  That is the least I could do to honor her huge efforts.