Nini Pharsenadze, Grade 11
UWC Dilijan
Being a part of UWC community is far from simply sharing similar goals and purposes, but sharing the most memorable memories with your friends. I joined UWCD with deep knowledge about its loving community. However, experiencing being part of it truly taught me lifelong lessons.
People have taught me various things about their cultures, traditions, and interests, and surprisingly, through their stories, I found my own. My mindset adapted to apprehend one single topic from various perspectives, and that’s when I started to truly understand the country I came from, my values, and my identity. Only after coming to UWC, I realized how important it is for an individual to be exposed to multiple, diverse cultures, in order to question their values, find their true self and appreciate their own cultures.
I have been raised in a fairly conservative country, and it did not pose any difficulties to me as I thought these customs were absolute truth. I never questioned my own values or tried to examine these customs from a different perspective. After coming to UWC, slowly, without me noticing, many things changed. My attitudes and approaches to certain topics shifted to a different path than what my country has taught me. Only after coming back home, on the break, I noticed how big of an impact UWC had on me. I was quick to notice how my values have changed, and sometimes it became hard for me to acknowledge that I have been living in a community with these values without me realizing that I had the choice to question them.
UWC taught me to appreciate my freedom of choice and opinion. It has also taught me to love my country, no matter how our values differ. Seeing people celebrate their cultures, empowered me, and made me want to represent it at its most authentic self. Even the things I did not agree with became valuable, as they made me who I am today, and it is my background. I cherished every little detail about my culture and became very open to new ideas, new perspectives, and new approaches to different things while basing my interest in my own country.
Clashing opposing opinions is what makes us so diverse and leads us to want to change and strive for a better life. It is not easy to progress when a country’s values are based so much on traditions. Thus it is a gradual thing, which will occur very slowly. However, even in this slow process, I want to be part of it with my very minor contribution. I want to participate in the process of giving everyone one single thing, which seems so easy but is so hard - the freedom to question their own values. Living in a country when I thought I had to follow customs, as I thought they were infallible, shows me the advantages of UWC experience. It empowered me to find myself in many aspects, and I truly believe everyone deserves to feel how is it like to be their most comfortable self. Thus, I aim to impact my country in a way that UWC has impacted me, even if it’s a minor contribution because this experience is what created my individuality.
People have taught me various things about their cultures, traditions, and interests, and surprisingly, through their stories, I found my own. My mindset adapted to apprehend one single topic from various perspectives, and that’s when I started to truly understand the country I came from, my values, and my identity. Only after coming to UWC, I realized how important it is for an individual to be exposed to multiple, diverse cultures, in order to question their values, find their true self and appreciate their own cultures.
I have been raised in a fairly conservative country, and it did not pose any difficulties to me as I thought these customs were absolute truth. I never questioned my own values or tried to examine these customs from a different perspective. After coming to UWC, slowly, without me noticing, many things changed. My attitudes and approaches to certain topics shifted to a different path than what my country has taught me. Only after coming back home, on the break, I noticed how big of an impact UWC had on me. I was quick to notice how my values have changed, and sometimes it became hard for me to acknowledge that I have been living in a community with these values without me realizing that I had the choice to question them.
UWC taught me to appreciate my freedom of choice and opinion. It has also taught me to love my country, no matter how our values differ. Seeing people celebrate their cultures, empowered me, and made me want to represent it at its most authentic self. Even the things I did not agree with became valuable, as they made me who I am today, and it is my background. I cherished every little detail about my culture and became very open to new ideas, new perspectives, and new approaches to different things while basing my interest in my own country.
Clashing opposing opinions is what makes us so diverse and leads us to want to change and strive for a better life. It is not easy to progress when a country’s values are based so much on traditions. Thus it is a gradual thing, which will occur very slowly. However, even in this slow process, I want to be part of it with my very minor contribution. I want to participate in the process of giving everyone one single thing, which seems so easy but is so hard - the freedom to question their own values. Living in a country when I thought I had to follow customs, as I thought they were infallible, shows me the advantages of UWC experience. It empowered me to find myself in many aspects, and I truly believe everyone deserves to feel how is it like to be their most comfortable self. Thus, I aim to impact my country in a way that UWC has impacted me, even if it’s a minor contribution because this experience is what created my individuality.
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