One Significant Moment In My Life Essay

Traveling to America for the first time for my studies will remain to be my greatest adventure. Just like any other international student would behave, I was equally too nervous to see this aspiration come true. I got scared immediately I landed in the United States about the culture, the country I had only read in textbooks during my junior years in school, about their prowess regarding technology, economic strengths, and the military superiority. This also marked the first time I made my first flight to a foreign nation. How were these people going to treat me? Will they consider me as backward and ignore me? Will I really adjust to the American lifestyle and what are the essential things for me to consider? All these questions got stuck in my mind; however I had no definite answers and these even worsened my situation.
It all began when I was seventeen years old. I grew up from Kuwait in a place where I had almost known everyone by his name, my classmates and my colleagues we used to play together. Previously, I had heard that life is a journey, and you only require one moment and your life can get changed, but I never believed those words until my time came. I considered moving to the United States was such a defining moment. First, the expectation of better education from middle-income country to a superpower, the unique culture especially the type of food I would eat in this foreign land. Will I be able to learn their English pronunciation fast, the dressing mode and getting transformed in my mind to greatness? It was one Saturday morning; I was in the kitchen washing utensils, my Dad had just arrived from attending an international conference abroad. Then, he called me and gave me an admission letter offering me a scholarship chance to go and study in one of the University in Alabama. Studying abroad was my dream because my immediate cousin had just left to the United States to study military science in Chicago. I too wanted to study mechanical engineering, and this was the moment. However, my mother never liked the idea, being her first born it was not easy for a loving mother to let go her child easily like that but with excitement I had, I placed a spirited defense not to lose this opportunity. When my Mom rejected this offer, I protested by rejecting food that day. The following day she had no otherwise but to give in. It was on a Sunday evening, I took my best clothes parked them in my suitcase and proceeded to the airport to take the flight. It was the last farewell moment and all by siblings and parents escorted me to the airport. When it was 30 minutes I bid bye to my family and entered the plane where I knew no one. I sat quietly in my seat and followed the instructions that were being given keenly until the plane took off.
I arrived in the United States at night via our flight after 21hours drive. I could not get out but waited for someone to direct me to my next destination. When it finally dawned, my cousin arrived at the airport to pick me. When seeing him, I was filled with joy for this was unexpected and I was not informed at home that someone would come to pick me. We never went to the college direct, but he moved me around just to have a taste of the new land – the beauty of Chicago where he was studying before taking me to California where I had to study English as a second language. In Chicago, I was welcomed by the eccentric vision, the spiral staircase, thousands glass panes and the natural interior lights of the buildings could tell it all – it's America. But the most intriguing feature in Chicago was the landmark of the Tribune Tower the 34 stories. This building was the most spectacular scenery I saw because of its uniqueness in decoration. We took a walk through the building this gave me another chance to see the history of the world being displaced through different monuments embedded through the stone walls. The Berlin wall, the Pyramid of Gaza and the stone from the fallen World Trade Center all brought live my history topics in my high school in one building. The following week, we proceeded to California State where I trained in English as my second language for a period of 6 months before moving to Mobile Alabama to study mechanical engineering.
Arriving at the University, the environment looked friendly and attracted me, however; I could not be able to socialize well within my first few weeks because I had not gained much confidence in expressing in English. This experience only lasted for few months and on my fourth month at the University, I had learned almost all the basic language diction and pronunciation challenges I experienced during my first stay. I gained some confidence and began making friends. My first friend was called Parker a Native American who became my mentor in Soccer. I became free and learned many things and could easily socialize with teachers freely and students which increased my self-esteem. This was also where my personality changed and general outlook on life. Back at home, I never played any game in my high school. I was a bit shy, low self-esteem and was rather a slow learner. Playing Soccer really changed my life; it has taught me how to lose and succeed. I have learned that in life it takes courage to live on the cutting edge to excel. I gained hard work ethics, and this was equally translated into my improved performance during my second semester after joining the Soccer Club at the University to date. I have learned to work perfectly well in a team and recognize the fact that team work actually yields to dream work. I learned cooperation skills with my teammates while on the field and while playing Soccer. I also realized there is much to learn from making mistakes than just excelling. If we win in a team, it results to our campus being considered as champions and awards are given. So it's this reward for scoring the highest number of goals that landed me to be the University Soccer Captain that placed me in limelight as the University star of the year award. I quickly learned also the adaptive skills in America by most students working and studying at the same time which even enabled me to acquire my first car when I was in third year of my studies. But equally important, I have gained self- confidence. I became to appreciate the fact that failure is not the end of life but an opportunity to try something different that can work. So failure to me is an opportunity to try and do something better and I have developed strong belief that failure is just as important as success because after several years of failing you gain wisdom on how to succeed not in one way but in different ways.
In conclusion, I now agree you only require one moment for your perception, ideology, and aspirations to change in life. Coming to the United States was such a momentous time in my life that has changed and transformed my social skills, interpersonal relations, and public speaking skills. From a shy person to a vocal and charismatic person able to tackle all life challenges as they come.