Hoping before McDowell's School Board

Not every exchange experience is the same, simply because every student is different, and every place is different too. Comparing an experience to another is a huge mistake, yet looking at each one individually triggers curiosity to those who are not part of it to know more.  Not every day is rainbows and sunshine, but surly not every other day is clouds and rain. One bad day shall never ruin a year long experience, and one good day will create memories that will spring in the happiness of many other days to come.    

My day today was one of a kind. A day that shall keep me motivated for a good period of time. It's a day that I can smile at and tell myself that I actually invested my time in the project of my successful ways of living. I'll never be the wise person who advises people with powerful talks.  I'll never be the big boss who's in charge. Instead, or at least for now, I am going to live for the present and do my best in influencing a change in this community. Our small roles matter, because small will always be big, and eventually big will surely influence something.  

I spoke before McDowell's School Board Members today about my exchange year and experience in McDowell County.  The cold weather made me start shivering since I stepped outside the house, but when my host mother and I arrived to the County Office, I knew that my shivers will not stop. They were not a sign of fear, because fear is always good in those situations from my point of view. When we're scared, our fear shows that we care, and when we care we work hard to show the best of ourselves. They weren't a sign of excitement, because I've been talking about this presentation for almost a week, so I was definitely past the excitement stage. I believe that they were a sign of hope, my hope to inspire the School Board with a short talk. I desperately wanted them to know that I want to educate as much as they do, because we are all creators of the future's success with our dreams and hopes. But my hope stood small, with shivers, and a cold body. 

I spoke about my life during the past seven months in the United States. My experience is the start of something, and I was very glad when they seemed to enjoy my talk. It was simple, but thankfully my experience has been filled with different events that are worth sharing.  Undergoing such an experience allows all of the exchange students to grow in only one year. At least one of us will be the Shakespeare of our time who writes about the real life of America. One will be the Mozart of the 21st century who composes the American Dream through several tones. One will be Picaso who draws the landscapes of this land which welcomed thousands of us with open hearts, but in a less crazier way. We are going to have a wise person who will be quoted years from now, and idolized by many young people who might go through the exact same experience. 

My hope made my body shiver today, yet the life time investment that I made proved to me that I will influence someone, because the power of change that I shall carry on with me will support me to keep on dreaming, believing, and talking. Because sometimes words can reach the heart quicker than the mind.