Especially given these last few years, I am completely convinced that everything truly does happen for a reason. From something as seemingly large as a college rejection to something else as small as your favorite coffee shop being too far away to go to - the bigger picture proves that these things aren’t as important as we make them out to be.

I want to talk about college rejections, or just college, in particular. The TLDR; version of my college career is that I got rejected from my top schools and decided to attend the American University of Paris. All the friends I made at AUP were apart of a transfer program with USC, and if it were not for one special friend in particular, I would not be able to call myself a trojan like I do today.

I knew we were destined to be great friends when we were sitting in an Uber, and we discovered that we both attended Vidcon in 2013. Or, maybe, it was the moment I realized I had met someone else who could recite the words to Dilemma by Nelly by heart in an entirely serious manner. It might’ve been the time I was the only one to hear her say something extremely funny in a large group of people (which I will not disclose in this biography for personal reasons), or the many times we quoted the same vines to the same heathens who think of the leafy plant when they hear the word “vine”.

Regardless of what it was (or wasn’t), I just knew she was a special friend. A friend I would say “we should hang out sometime” to, and actually follow through with. A friend I could be my weirdest self with and feel completely normal, and a friend that I would be lucky to have for the rest of my life.

This special friend goes by the name of “Meli”, and it still bewilders me how the two of us both come from different parts of the same state, attended so many of the same events in high school, and somehow, by chance, became best friends in the city filled known best for its love and lights. Our apartments were just a bridge-walk across the Seine from one another, and had Meli not told me to apply to USC, she would not be living in the room below mine (here in Los Angeles) as I type this out.

I don’t want to make this too long, because I know people have short attention spans and prefer things to be short and simple and sweet and to the point - so I present to you another TLDR; we need money. And a good amount of it, too.

Yes, that is correct. I am asking you to donate money to my good friend so she can continue to reside under me and continue her studies here at USC.

Now, I understand this is beginning to sound like a personal narrative about “keeping my best friend and I in a quarter mile radius of one another so give me your money”, so here I present to you the not-so-TLDR; version of the main reason why I am asking you to lend not only your ears, but your wallet and perhaps your empathy, too.

Meli moved to the United States when she was eight years old, and despite the fact that she is originally from Turkey, considers California to be her true home. Her older brother was diagnosed with cancer, leaving her family without money, and her estranged father stopped paying for her tuition - despite the fact that he is legally obliged to do so. Meli worked hard to get into USC; it was and is her dream school. To have the amazing opportunities our school provides to its students taken away due to something completely out of Meli’s control is not fair at all. If she is not able to continue to pursue her studies, her visa will be revoked. And if her visa is revoked, not-so-fun things will follow, including moving back to an abusive family in Turkey with a possible arranged marriage. Coming from a country where freedom of speech is currently not guaranteed and one could be prosecuted for something as little as wearing the wrong t-shirt, Meli was inspired to study communications - to speak for those who are not able to do so freely. International students are ineligible for financial aid (nor student loans). Due to the time constraint we are under, Go Fund Me is the only liable option for Meli to continue fighting on.

If there is one thing Meli has taught me aside from the fact that vegan food is actually really, really good, it’s that you should never stop fighting for the people you care about. And I care about Meli.

I don’t want my adventures with Meli, regardless of whether we are in Paris or South Central LA, to come to a halt so soon. I cannot begin to stress this enough: it weren’t for Meli, my life would be completely different. If it weren’t for Meli, I have no idea where I would be attending school right now, and if it weren’t for Meli, I wouldn’t have believed in that one saying about finding your true friends in college. Our friendship is three years, two countries, one very, very, strong bond, and infinite amounts of memories deep. And I would be forever grateful if we could, among other things, continue to quote vines and break out into song and dance and go out to ramen at midnight and FaceTime each other from a floor apart - with the assurance that Meli would be able to graduate the way she is meant to to.

Alexa, play Waka Waka by Shakira.