It is unbelievable when it comes to mind that it was two years ago that the passenger next to my seat during landing said, “Welcome to the United States”.  If I look back today, I can be nothing but grateful, that I have been listening to the voice within, and followed my path where I think I should be. From willing to live abroad, surrounded by some who did not understand this decision, I arrived in a world full of people who became friends and family with whom I’m still in touch today.

The word ‘global’ has come up so many times in the two years that I have been living in DC. The world has changed and became so much smaller than it eventually was at first, while my narrow-minded view got a twist to a very open minded way of understanding things. I stopped placing countries, nationalities or backgrounds in corners, and instead, started to look at these from a very different perspective. Entering an aircraft today and looking outside only confirms to me the view of not seeing any borders or countries, but just the colors of landscapes and oceans, which tells us only one thing: we are united and are all one. Being one does not obviously mean that we share the same thoughts, but the experience of living with people from all around the world showed me that we indeed can easily live together in peace as long as love and respect are involved while exchanging thoughts.

“You can’t do it”, “in your dreams”, “too difficult for you”, “we don’t think you’ll succeed” –  I can keep going on with all the pessimist sentences I have been hearing throughout my life.

Unfortunately, we always have to struggle with proving ourselves to our environment, our colleagues, bosses, friends and family. From the moment you go to school you are thrown into this battle, this competition with the others. Even though we all say that we do not study to get better grades than others, we are almost forced to compete. A better University, more experience or knowledge in the particular work field, a variety of languages we try to learn. It is always us, proving ourselves to others and while we are on this high speed track; do we really stop from time to time and evaluate what we want? What we think we are capable of?

Today, I can say that I have completed my Bachelor in Law and that I am currently finishing my Masters in International Law, that I have been working at the Ministry for several years, that I have been traveling, interning at the Dutch Embassy, learning new languages such as Arabic this year, became the Resident Manager at ISH, started to work as a Dean’s Fellow and a member of the board at the University,  became a new member of a Turkish Dance Crew with a performance soon at the Verizon Center, started to work as a volunteer for Syrian refugees by translating Turkish documents, and if there is time left between readings and the work out, quality time with friends and family. Why am I telling this? Definitely not to show off, rather trying to let all of us sit down for a minute and think of what we have accomplished so far and if we would go back in time, would we even imagine where we are right now?

We have traveled miles to be here with a goal which is unique in its own way for every one of us. We are here because we have been listening to that little voice within, we had the courage to follow and be “different” than our local friends who might not understand our journey. We are here because we believe in ourselves. We believe that we can accomplish certain short and long term goals we have in our minds.

Success is such a broad word; who defines success and what does that actually mean for us in our personal lives? Success for one can mean a family, for others a career, or both; maybe earning a lot and traveling around the world, maybe making the world a better place. In my world, success comes to the point where you look in the mirror and can be proud of yourself. In the rush from going to school to work to additional classes in an institution to an internship at an NGO, we do sometimes forget to stop and look back.

The other day I was watching a speech of President Obama where he was talking to the interns of the White House where he said the following: ”Worry less about what you want to be, and think more about what you want to do,”  and I think that is where you find your own success. Believe in yourself and think about what you want to do, to reach for your own success.

It is that time of the year again. The period where residents in the house feel so connected, like they have known each other for years, but at the same time have to end their internships, exchange programs in DC, and have to say good bye to their colleagues, class mates and most importantly, the people who they have been sharing their room and house with. From my experience, I know how hard it can be to be close with someone and loose them, because it really does feel like you are loosing them. Meeting new residents in the coming semester will feel like you are betraying your old room or housemates. I can assure you that you don’t have to worry about loosing your good friends. In the past year I have been reuniting with ISH friends in London, Milan and in my hometown Rotterdam. I will meet with another ISH friend soon in Amsterdam, so the connection continues.

This year has been crazy. Ending an internship at the Dutch Embassy in DC in March and coming back to DC as a student. The transition was so different. Unfortunately, less quality time with the house and the residents, because there is so much to do and to read to prepare for class. I remember myself being afraid after the first week of class. It was so much, so fast and so different than it is back home in the Netherlands. I was questioning myself: “Would I still be able to finish this program and graduate?”, “Did I underestimate the master program?”. All these questions started to fly around in my mind. Meanwhile, professors, friends and family were encouraging me to keep believing in myself and that it will be a matter of time for me to get used to the different system of education, and as they said, it did take a month, but after those four weeks I started to be confident again and believe in myself. When I look back at the semester now, I must say that I had a great time as a student in DC. I am used to the U.S. system of studying and it feels like I have been studying for years in the States. I have learned so much and met a lot of people who have became my friends. The international family is getting bigger.

2015 brought me a lot. To keep believing in yourself, even when things get so bad that you don’t know which road to follow. Every road you follow with bad or good decisions, will make you the person, as who you are today.

It’s that time of the year again, where the weather starts getting colder, where finals are about to arrive, where students like me are waiting for the sales to show up. It is also the month of being “thankful”, where we come and eat together with friends and family, a time called Thanksgiving. What is Thanksgiving actually? Thanksgiving is a national holiday which is mainly celebrated in Canada and the United States. Originally it was celebrated as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest (gathering ripe crops from the fields) and of the preceding year. Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions. Nowadays the culture continues and gathers people together.

I had the honour to be invited at my friend’s place with his family. It was a classic American Thanksgiving experience. Eight siblings of his mom were present, together with their sons and daughters. Along with them were their children, so you can imagine that we were with more than 50 people in the house. I loved the experience of being within an American family to see what this day is about. What surprised me at first was that I had to be ready around noon to go to his parent’s place to start dinner at 4PM – 4 PM! I did not understand that concept at all. Back home [Rotterdam, the Netherlands] the earliest we have dinner is around 6 PM. Then, my friend explained to me that the food is so much that we need that time, and next to the food it is all about meeting the family or friends and having quality time with them. The dinner was great, full of the typical Thanksgiving dinner list, which is mashed potatoes, stuffing, of course the turkey and much more. After dinner we had a great choice of desserts. I kept some space in my stomach so I could enjoy every round.

I definitely recommend going to an American family during Thanksgiving or Christmas, since the experience itself is very nice. They are opening their doors and are perfect hosts so you don’t even have to wait for their invitation!

After this family dinner I went to another Thanksgiving event with my classmates from the International Legal Studies Program. That was an international version of Thanksgiving, where everyone made something from their own home country. You can imagine that after that day, I was more or less done with eating for some days.

Lastly, to answer the question I am asking you. I am thankful of being in the United States and experience this amazing time and sharing this with the international family I have here, at ISH and also at my University. I am thankful for the support of my parents, my family and friends back home and elsewhere around the world. I am thankful for myself, to listen to the voice within and taking risks to come to the US, to study, with all the traps and difficulties involved. After all, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. : )

Let’s be thankful every day for being healthy, having a shelter and being happy. Let’s also try to share this thankfulness with others around us, since we do forget sometimes how thankful we actually should be.

After a couple of months I am happy to say that I am doing much better in Law school then I thought I would. The first weeks were very stressful since the way of teaching students is different than back home, as well as the amount of readings and class participation. I have been sending several emails to the professor to talk about my concerns and I must say that I am doing great at the moment. Professors have been very considerate with helping me to get back on track and it really is just a matter of time to get used to this new system. Time flies by, the midterms are over and I am preparing for my finals, which will start in four weeks. I would like to encourage you that whenever you have this feeling of failing, just don’t give up and be patience. Time is really the cure in this case.

I have to say that I miss my intern life in the House a lot, since now, as a student, there is less time for trips, but with planning things out, there is still lots of time to go out and have fun. Speaking of fun – Halloween, one of my favorite holidays in the US, was epic once again. Every year I keep being amazed of how people can be really creative with their costumes. For those who don’t know what Halloween actually is, it is an event where everyone dresses up as something popular on TV, books or movies. Also parents go along with their children to doors to get candy where they say the famous phrase “Trick or treat!”

This year I went for a costume out the Disney collection. I was dressed up as Aladdin and even had a Jasmine! The only thing missing was our flying carpet. It was crazy full on the streets with literally everyone dressed as something. The Power Rangers, Minions, Darth Father, Spiderman, Batman, Catwomen, Jack Sparrow; name it and I can assure you that they were there. We don’t celebrate Halloween as crazy as in the US back home. We do have Carnaval in the Netherlands where we have a Halloween-look-a-like dress event.

This year I have also been experiencing to have friends outside the house, but I must say it is like ISH itself. My classmates are all around the world and it keeps surprising me how the connection of such a big international group becomes one. Surrounded by this international network keeps me happy and makes me think of one of the important goals I have. See the world from a different perspective, as in green and blue, instead of borders or flags. We really are one.