People always have trouble pinpointing where I was born. When I joined my new Macedonian elementary school in the fourth grade, most of my class assumed I had been born in Turkey. I had, after all, just moved to Skopje at the age of nine, having spent majority of my childhood in Ankara. I remember how hard it was to explain to my peers why I had lived there. I doubt I even understood it myself. My dad was simply relocated to Turkey as he had gotten a job there and we all went with him for four years. It seemed as natural as moving to the other end of town to live closer to school.
It certainly did not help my cause that, while in Turkey, virtually the only people I spoke Macedonian with were my parents. That left me with an in-depth knowledge of Macedonian 80s pop hits, not quite the understanding of how to communicate with kids my age. On the first day of class, I was asked to introduce myself by narrating my summer. Trying to talk about a bracelet I had gotten, I used the archaic word for “bracelet” which my father loved. Though my teacher appreciated the ornate phrasing, most of the kids just laughed. It was a while before I mastered the Macedonian vocabulary of my peers. For at least a year, I …show more content…
Although moving to Turkey was not a choice I made, coming to Columbia was. Certainly, I wanted to be a part of a community of some of the best scientific minds in the world, but I also wanted to branch outside my national and ethnic bounds to craft my own story. Though I do miss my friends from home and make sure to spend at least part of each break in my native Skopje, I do not doubt my choice to continue my education on this side of the ocean. Because I want to spend the next decade of my life in a transcultural context within which I will join the international community of physician-scientists, I am applying to your
It certainly did not help my cause that, while in Turkey, virtually the only people I spoke Macedonian with were my parents. That left me with an in-depth knowledge of Macedonian 80s pop hits, not quite the understanding of how to communicate with kids my age. On the first day of class, I was asked to introduce myself by narrating my summer. Trying to talk about a bracelet I had gotten, I used the archaic word for “bracelet” which my father loved. Though my teacher appreciated the ornate phrasing, most of the kids just laughed. It was a while before I mastered the Macedonian vocabulary of my peers. For at least a year, I …show more content…
Although moving to Turkey was not a choice I made, coming to Columbia was. Certainly, I wanted to be a part of a community of some of the best scientific minds in the world, but I also wanted to branch outside my national and ethnic bounds to craft my own story. Though I do miss my friends from home and make sure to spend at least part of each break in my native Skopje, I do not doubt my choice to continue my education on this side of the ocean. Because I want to spend the next decade of my life in a transcultural context within which I will join the international community of physician-scientists, I am applying to your