Reflecting upon my UWC experience would always be different depending on the moment of time and place I am reflecting upon it from. Every day the transformation started in UWC is continuing and my impression of it changes. Every new realisation, idea or thought would not be there in my mind if not the adventure I went through in Dilijan.
In UWC Dilijan I enjoyed living with many different people; it taught me thinking wider, in many more dimensions. I enjoyed being able to learn about the foreign country Armenia deeply from inside and create my own independent understanding and impression of it. With mixed success I enjoyed the challenge of interesting but demanding academic program. I enjoyed my thinking provoked by active progressive environment of the school.
My choice fell for Lewis & Clark College immediately as I learned about its values and mission that resembled my own beliefs so widely. The spirit of the school was something I was looking for. After 7 years of living in boarding schools I knew very precisely what I wanted from a close small community. Multicultural dynamic environment of L&C will be a great continuation of my educational path. Environmentally sustainable living is something I am striving for and it is important to me that L&C facilitates and supports this life-style.
I plan to major in Anthropology and Sociology. I am interested in watching and analysing people’s behaviour, their reactions, decisions, relationships, influence of their decisions on others, dynamics of group development, etc. I think Sociology would teach me to professionally analyse tendencies of social progress, global decisions made by people, their passions, fashions, interests, beliefs and where it all derives from. Hopefully, Dance (especially, Social Dance Forms classes) as my minor will be an interesting contribution to my studies in Sociology.
I am a passionate dancer in different styles and techniques. Dance is in a way my tool for self-reflection/realisation, analysis, meditation and the lens of perception. Amongst my other interests I have skiing, camping, horse-riding, painting and crafting, playing water polo, fashion and design. Psychology is what I really enjoy reading and trying to apply in life as well. I am also interested in fashion and people’s dressing tendencies depending on geographic, historical and social settings.
Living in Armenia (in UWC) for two years was the greatest traveling experience that I have ever had, especially because in fact it was not traveling but living! I enjoy discovering new places deeper than a week or two trip. That is why my upcoming experience of living in Portland, Oregon excites me a lot.
Within the four years of my future life in Lewis & Clark I want to absorb as much information, experience and emotions as possible and I am open to anything that is to come! As it was said by professor Paul Powers I want to «experiment with my thinking», I want to see if there are any reasonable interesting transformations to be made in my mindset and self-understanding as I will be placed in a new environment of Lewis & Clark College.