Editor’s note: Like Humans of New York’s “daily glimpses into the lives of strangers on the streets,” Humans of CSU tells the stories of the people who populate our campus. Written by Collegian staff and told in first person from the subject’s point of view, this series aims to make each individual on campus relatable.

I wanted to get out of Europe and then just try somewhere new. The Natural Resources department — there’s nothing really similar to it in Europe, so I was like, “I’m going to have to go to somewhere bigger than the schools we have back home.” Then I was looking into it, and my dad’s colleague actually went to CSU, so he loved it and raved about it. I ended up applying and then got in, which was great. It was definitely crazy. I had never been to Colorado before, so it was nerve-wracking for sure. But it turned out to be a pretty solid decision. I’d do it again.

As spoiled as this is going to sound, I was very fortunate in that I got to travel a lot, and so I’d seen most of the countries and I just wanted to try something that was very different and get a bit of a culture shock.

I don’t do well being stagnant. Even my bedroom — I’ve got to at least move my bed every semester because I’m just like, “Something needs to change.”

There’s definitely added challenges about not having any close family close-by. Everybody’s at least an eight- or nine-hour flight away, which is definitely nerve-wracking. After 4 in the afternoon, I can’t really call my parents anymore because they’re in bed and they would not be happy because of the time difference. Sometimes, it is bad and it’s terrible and you’re like, “I just want to go home and I just want to be in a living room that I know is mine.”

I think that’s also made friendships stronger in some cases. Even with kids who don’t necessarily go and see their family every weekend, even they can relate to it. It’s nice being able to talk to people about it. Especially then when you meet somebody else who’s not from America in general, you’re just like, “You totally understand what (I) mean when I say this.”

I go home every Christmas for about a month. Summer is always iffy. I get to go back more than a lot of people I know who aren’t from here, which is really nice.

One of my biggest issues is probably that I don’t really know where I want to be, which is kind of a nice issue just because I do have that flexibility in just that I’m pretty open to going to anywhere I fit if the opportunity presents itself. It has definitely made the post-graduate plans a little difficult just because you can’t be like, “Oh, yeah, I’ll just look for jobs in this area.”

I’m definitely going home for a little bit, and then hoping to do one of the longer hiking trails in Scotland. If I can convince my mum to do it with me, that would be great, but we’ll have to see. Just go hang out with family for a bit that I obviously haven’t been able to see as often because you never see them all. Eventually, if I can decide to settle down somewhere, do that if I don’t find another adventure to go to. It’s pretty much up in the air.

I’ve been pretty nonchalant about it, considering that it’s a month away. Some days, I’m really stressed about it, and then other days, I’m just like, “Oh, I’ll figure it out.” I’m definitely going to take a break. I plan on finding a job practically straight away when I go back, but it’s not going to be something that I’m going to be sitting in for awhile. Long-term, I think getting into water quality and water sustainability would be very cool. If I could be able to do project-based stuff and do some travel, that would be pretty ideal. Both of my parents work for the UN, so doing something for the United Nations environmental program or developmental program would also be very cool, but again, that all depends on budget and skill level.

Collegian Staff can be reached at socialmedia@collegian.com.

[pt_view id=”6e7a0d0e7b”]