Armenian Exchange Student Reflects on Recent Experiences in the US

As winter winds down and spring draws near, our exchange students start to reflect on their time in the United States before heading home to their respective countries of origin. Check out what Ani, an AYA exchange student from Armenia hosted in New York, has to say about the last few weeks exploring Washington, DC for Civic Education Week and seeing New York City with her local cluster of exchange students — and how these memories have and will continue to impact her life:

Thinking about my exchange year, my mind is getting full of adventures and experiences that I’m getting during these valuable months that will never be out of my heart even if I be in the other side of the ocean. I want to mention my February which started with the Civic [Education] Workshop and finished with trips with my lovely coordinator and group.

It is not even easy to describe my excitement because it has always been a big goal to visit my dream city (NYC), feel the mixed culture, look at the beautiful skyscrapers that make you fly, walk up to the Empire [State] Building but not be afraid of looking down as you know that the lights of the beauty are calling you. It was an honor to visit the UN and improve my knowledge and lookout towards the world and diversity.

To be an art person, it was a great opportunity to explore the art spirit and get inspired by the works in the museums, learn about American values. Why not also visit the chocolate world, learn about the facts about chocolate, have fun and feel sweet.

By the way, I want to say at the end of my story, that not only I had fun by visiting these amazing places, but also I made leadership skills. It was a team work with amazing leaders, because all the students were responsible for another one, they were caring about each others as a loyal family.

Even if we could not sleep well as all of us were looking forward to the sunrise in order to see new things, these memories will always be stuck in our minds.