Tuition #GFMScholarship

(To read this in spanish click here)
This article has been updated to include my participation in #GFMScholarship! I hope that my story bellow honestly represents some of the obstacles that I've overcome and the personality strengths that helped me get where I am today. 

Hi readers and crowdfunders!

I am a 25 year old woman, original from Sopela, a town in the north of Spain. I studied general psychology and I graduated in 2012. 

I did my internship in a Mental Health Day Hospital. I was working in a group of therapist that took care of a group of 30 acute mental ill patients. This has been one of the best experiences of my life. I worked for more than half a year, full time, without being paid a dime. I loved going to work. But when it finished, they could not hire us, so I remained unemployed. 

I have always been a hard worker. I achieved excellent grades in High School and College and I also had a great performance during my work life . At home we had only my mom's salary to pay for everything. So me and my younger brother always had to work to get some cash for ourselves. But after I graduated, right in the middle of the worst economical crisis my generation has lived, working was not even a choice. I have worked as a cleaner, as a sales promoter, as a teacher, babysitter and tutor, at a newsagents, in supermarkets... 

I come from a very humble family. I always got scholarships to study in school and college. We always borrowed old clothes. We even had to eat from food given from the church. No shame! My mom cannot help me finantially more than giving me a bed to sleep and food if I can work from time to time. 

After a year of not working on anything related to my field of study, I decided to come to the US. Here, I worked and lived with a great family, taking care of their kids. This experience has alowed me not only to enrich myself in many ways, but also to see fartherer, to believe that there is hope. I came to the US and I started believing in the American dream. 

After I finished working as an au pair, I was forced to leave the US and go back home.  Back home where all my old classmates are unemployed. Where I was not be able to help my family more than working for (if I am lucky) 500 dollars a month cleaning or at a supermarket. I deserve more, my family deserves more, and the society deserves more. So unless I could find a way to stay, I had to give up on my dream.

With my work, with my knowledge and my skills, I want to help others. This has always been my life motif. I decided I wanted to work as a psychologist when I was around 12. Last year I was very close to giving up. But I do not want to give up to my dream, because I firmly believe that psychology can help society for the better. 

So, I wanted to stay in the US, even though the employment situation is not the best, it is better than in Europe. To work here I need to have a Counselor License, and to achieve that, I needed a Master's Degree in Counseling. After some research I found a great and affordable school in my area: Northeastern University. You can check the program here. I went to their informative session and I loved the program and the teachers. It felt like everything I had done before was leading me to study here. 

I can not apply to any financial aid because I'm not a resident or citizen. The tuition costs for international students are double than the normal tuition, which means that each credit costs $671.60 for me. The full program has 60 credits. $671.60 times 60 credits equals $40,296. This is only for tuition and fees, not books, not room, not anything else. 

So, with a little bit of your help I will be closer to achieving this dream and maybe not drown in debt for the time I finish my studies.  

Now that I've been studying here for almost two years (time flies!), I can tell this was the best decision I've made in my life. I recently started my internship, and I am offering counseling services to students at a local community college. I love my job, eventhough it's a non-paid position, it is worth every minute I spend there. However, the financial burden of studying in the US is takin its toll on me. Receiving some extra monetary help would be awesome and I would be better serving  my clients.

If you wanna know more about me, I will briefly describe myself:
I am a very creative person and very affective with everyone. I love reading and writing. I am healthy and I love doing yoga. I speak English, Spanish and Basque. I am always in the process of learning, and right now I am learning: arabic, sign language, playing guitar and slowly...programming. I am a great cook they say! I also love to draw and paint, and thought that at some point I would love to redirect my career to the Art Therapy Counseling area. 
Through life I have learned many things butI have realized that I should focus my efforts on the things that I love doing. I love being a psychologist and my values tell me that psychology should be cheap or even free for anyone who needs it. 

Based on this philosophy I created a blog. This blog will be about psychology, and with time and interested readers I want to use it also as an advice site. So that people can contact me with doubts and I can give them advice, and also talk in general to anyone who would be in the need of help. I know it is not enough, but for now that is what I feel I am able to do, and while I am studying in grad college I will go on writing on this blog. If you want to give me any feedback contact me here or directly on the blog. It is still under construction, but soon I will be adding post and I will update it regularly. Please check it out =) it is called Naked Neurons 
http://nakedneurons.wordpress.com/ 

So while I am in college, you will also be able to see my progress as I will be writing articles about the things I learn and I like. 


I do ask for a mailing address because I will send a symbolic reward to those of you who decide to help me out . 

Also if you want you can check my LinkedIn acount clicking here.

Thank you very much for your kind donations