My name is Alexandra, usually, people call me Alex, and I live in a small town of 8000 people in the north of Germany. Attending a UWC was a huge step for me, as I had always been around the same people my entire life, and I felt like I had stepped into a whole other world when I arrived in Freiburg. Since the college is in the South, I like to joke around that I was “technically abroad”. My absolute favorite experiences at RBC were always the people and the lessons I learned through them: Culture shocks, dirty kitchens, house meeting arguments, bonding over IB depression, and crossing paths with people at 3 am as they cram for tomorrow’s test. I found that our differences were more likely to unite us than our similarities. These are only some of the many experiences I will forever cherish and miss.
One thing I will not miss, however, is the college admission process, which Lewis & Clark made so much easier. After getting my ego boosted some days, and completely crushed the next, L&C made me feel the most secure in my choices for my future. With everything that L&C offered me in comparison to other schools, the decision was not difficult. The next big decision, my major, will take me a little while, but I am determined to study Russian for sure. My parents are from Kazakhstan and migrated to Germany about 20 years ago. Hopefully, in a couple of years, I can have a full, deep conversation with my family in Petropavlovsk, without having to throw in random German in between.
Besides learning languages, I love to be artistic and hope to continue to be during my time at L&C. I crochet and sew, do dances of several types, paint, enjoy taking photos and express myself through writing. One might find me performing choreographies, maybe even with fellow dancers at L&C, and I am super excited to develop my dancing further. Dancing has helped me develop a love for all kinds of music and I look forward to showing my new friends some European musicians, just as much as I look forward to finding more artists I never heard of. I find lots of joy in learning about unfamiliar, niche topics, and you might find me watching documentaries and video essays on literally anything there is to learn in the world.
I have travelled a little bit throughout my life, usually, school-related trips, like Italy for my former high school’s 50th anniversary, Switzerland for art museums, Austria to learn to ski, and the Czech Republic for a project week on the history of Prague. Together with my family, I have travelled to Russia and Kazakhstan to visit my family there, like my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and my plethora of cousins. Coming to attend L&C will be my very first time in the U.S., let alone another continent.
I hope the fact that I am entering into a journey that I would have never dreamed of two years ago, will motivate me to make a change in my life and one day, the world. One thing I want to accomplish, is pride in myself and my achievements, rather than relying on the approval of others on my self-worth. I hope to grow further as an individual and to become more confident in what I am good at, rather than comparing myself to my peers. I look forward to my time at Lewis & Clark, and I cannot wait to come back to this text and find myself exactly where I want to be.