Keep Studying

ENGLISH IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

ITALIANO


Ciao a tutti. A scrivervi è un piccolo grande sognatore, che non si vuole arrendere.

Mi chiamo Dejan, ho 23 anni, e tanta voglia di dimostrare a tutti e a me in primis che, quando un sogno è bello e profondo e si è pronti a giocare tutte le carte in mano e nel mazzo, si può realizzare.

Questo GoFundMe è nato ieri sera per aiutarmi a continuare gli studi in comunicazione presso l’Oklahoma University, negli Stati Uniti. Io ho avuto la fortuna di aver vissuto là per un anno, grazie ad uno scambio culturale mediato dall’attuale università da cui presto mi laureerò. Una volta là ho avuto modo di comprendere mille nuove realtà, ma soprattutto ho avuto la possibilità di conoscere me.

Era la prima volta che mi trovavo nella situazione di essere ospite e non a casa. Spesso infatti ho viaggiato, perché l’idea dell’ignoto mi terrorizza e affascina, ma mai avevo abitato in un posto per 10 mesi, con la famiglia a circa 8000 miglia. Ho capito quanto fragile una persona che si sposta possa essere e ho avuto una nuova conferma di quanto i ragazzi che al giorno d’oggi si spostano e muovano in giro per il mondo possano trovarsi in situazioni stupende e tragiche al contempo.

Per questo motivo, dei miei studi di Comunicazione Interculturale da cui sto per laurearmi con una media che ad oggi è del 27.9, vorrei poter parlare al più grande numero di persone possibile. Ho deciso quindi di fare application per la laurea specialistica in Creative Media Production, perché necessito di ampliare ulteriormente le mie conoscenze nell’ambito della comunicazione per poter raggiungere tutti quegli individui che ad oggi mi sono lontani e cercare di migliorare questo mondo in cui viviamo, attivamente.

Pur essendo stato ammesso, però, il servizio di immigrazione statunitense mi sta chiedendo di dimostrare una capacità economica di circa 35000$. Questo purtroppo è imprescindibile al completamento della mia iscrizione presso l’Oklahoma University.

La mia famiglia, per quanto mi abbia sempre supportato come poteva, non è in grado di dimostrare tanto, men che meno quanto richiesto. Per questo sto organizzando questo GoFundMe. Lavorare mentre studio non è mai stato un problema, lo faccio da 8 anni, e non mi spaventa farlo anche ora. Ma non basta. E io non ho altre carte da giocare che questa qui.

Chi mi conosce sa che la mia vita mi piace tenerla per me, eppure è l’unica cosa che mi resta da offrire. Quindi ho deciso di prendere la decisione di creare quest’opportunità perché ho ancora fiducia nel mondo e perché non ho mai smesso di sognare.

E per quanto sia difficile, non ho mai smesso di rialzarmi dopo ogni caduta. Non inizierò a farlo ora.


ENGLISH

There are moments in your life which change your world view in such a way you cannot go back to what you used to see. 

This is what happened to me, not even a year ago. Thanks to an application sent for an exchange program, I got the opportunity to live one year in Oklahoma, USA, to continue my studies. 

Once there, I discovered the person I am: 23 years old, Italian, with a huge passion for what I study: Intercultural Communication. 

In such a historical moment as the one that we are living in nowadays, I really want to share what I know about different cultures and make our world a little bit better in any way I know. 

Although I am already trying to do so in everyday's life moments, and through a Radio Show broadcasted by SudiOU, the official OU Radio station (https://www.mixcloud.com/dejan-deki-uberti/).
This is the reason why I decided to apply for some Graduate Programs around the USA. 

Of course I applied to different schools, and scholarships all over the place. There is one place though that really changed my life and that is Oklahoma, and the University of Oklahoma. I saw professors with such. a passion for teaching, that I had not seen anywhere else, students spending their lives and learning with a smile on their faces and, moreover, I met amazing people I really cannot wait to learn from. 

I did apply for a Creative Media Production Graduate Program at the Gaylord College, and I've just discovered I did get accepted. The only problem is that I did not win the Graduate Assistant position which would help me pay for my own studies, relieving my family from any expenses. 

My history is not an easy one, but that has never stopped me from reaching my life goals. I've always worked my way up to the places I wanted to be. I worked since I was around 16 years old, so that I could help my family and my own person. I find my self in this situation now: I need to find the money to present to the Immigration Office of the University of Oklahoma, so that I can begin my Graduate Studies. The USA government is asking me to show 35000$ altogether, because otherwise I cannot survive in the USA and I would be a weight for the American community. 

This amount of money is not even everything I really need, because this the tuition and fees just for one of the two years that the program costs. But this the amount of money I need to show all at once. Of course, working while I'm studying is already a plan, but 35 thousand dollars on my bank account altogether is basically impossible.

I do remember the amazing skies of Oklahoma: limitless. I do remember the kindness Okies showed to me. I found a family there. That family is made by all of those people who taught me how to walk in a country which wasn't mine feeling safe and, moreover, feeling at home. 

I know my English might still have some problems, but I'm trying my best to explain how disperate I am to find your help. 

I'll add here a text I wrote in which I explain "a meaningful step in my life" to help you understand how deeply life changing studying in America has been for me, and how life changing it will be. 

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"My first step"

The wind was hot and strong that day. A million drops of rain hit my body every time the sliding door opened to let a parent inside the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.People walked hectically around me. I stood still, though. Almost paralyzed. I remember my eyes staring at buildings so tall that the top parts were hidden behind the dark clouds of that night. Greetings of people in the big arrival terminal were kept distant by a pair of headphones on my ears, no music playing. My backpack was hanging on a shoulder, while my only piece of luggage was firm in my left hand. A heavy, single teardrop rolled down to touch my lips. Then I blinked, and my right foot lifted once more. That is the moment I realized my life changed.

When it comes to life changing experiences, human beings usually focus on the decision which led to difficulties, as all of them would take place simultaneously. They hardly realize how they will have to face those one by one. Not before. Not altogether. This is why when I am asked to think about a moment of truth in my life, I immediately think about that one step I took after 25 hours of travelling from Arezzo, my hometown in Italy, to Oklahoma City, where I would spend the next 10 months of my life.

Everything started in January 2018. I was sitting on a doorstep outside the Oklahoma University in Arezzo facility with a guy I had only known for 3 days. We were just talking and breathing the cool Italian winter air when he asked me, “Have you ever thought about coming to America, as I’m here in Italy to study this semester?” “Sincerely,” I replied “not really. I have always wanted to explore the world, but nothing has ever given me enough strength to take the final decision.” “Nothing will ever give you enough strength,” he said while trying not to laugh too hard. “I am here, sitting with a perfect stranger, on a doorstep in Italy. Do you really think I am not scared? Do you believe there won’t be moments in which I will wish to be home, with my dogs, and my family? Of course, I will not have enough strength to handle everything.
But I will keep stepping forward, and I will get to the end of this experience, because this is what humans do: they keep pushing.”

Silence. He was right. He made me understand in a few sentences what was stopping me. I was so focused on potential future problems and difficulties, that I was missing out on real and possible experiences now. I was scared of something which might never even happen. “Excuse me,” I said, “but I have to check something.” I ran back inside of the library where we were studying. I opened my computer and sent the email I had written the semester before to go study abroad.

I updated my personal info, the opening greetings, and I clicked send.
So much paperwork I had to go through in order to get my flights and my visa. So many hours spent with my professors at the University of Siena to understand the best classes I could enroll in once in America, to avoid delays in my career. All the explanation I had to give to my family to make them understand my will. And I went through all of these challenges without even thinking about how much strength I was using. I just faced them.

Then the day of my departure arrived. I said bye to everybody. I took my backpack and my only piece of luggage and I went through 16 hours of flights, 7 hours of layovers and 2 additional hours of overfly at the airport due to a bad storm. I landed in Oklahoma City the 10thof August 2018. I took back my suitcase, which had not gotten lost on the way here as I had feared, and I walked toward the exit. While I was standing before the sliding door which was shielding me from the outside, I saw those eyes that once were sitting next to me on a doorstep in Italy.

A heavy, single teardrop rolled down to touch my lips. I stepped forward. Those eyes were closer. I slid my headphones from my ears in time to hear him say, “That is your first step in America, my friend.” 

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