Change

Evgeny Smirnov

Like many people, I was never a fan of change. It is natural for human beings to fear change, because they believe that when you are doing something a particular way for a long time, it must be a good way to do things. One day I had to make a big decision if I wanted to change something in my life…

 Back in August of 2013, when my father told me that I was going to study in America, I was not quite sure about the answer. At that time, I was just on my way back to Russia from a summer school camp in UK, but nonetheless my dad told me about that decision(which he developed in the course of three weeks while I was gone) as soon as we met personally, while we were in a taxi cab on our way to the airport. He asked the question with no hesitation, as if it was no big deal, because deep inside of his mind he knew the answer. It was a little shock; the question was much unexpected for me. I could not answer right away and I have to explain why. While growing up in Russia, as student from a middle-class family in a public school, we all had an idea that if you were able to leave or “escape” Russia and live abroad, you would be very successful. That seems like a pretty “messed up” dream; but that’s the way Russian teenagers are, or at least were before the government increased the amounts of propaganda.

“Son, you will be studying in America, do you agree?” The question was very clear, yet there I was unable to decide.

 Therefore, my answer was “I wouldn’t mind”.

When we finally got on to a plane and took off into the sky, I pretended as if I was sleeping, but I was actually thinking the whole idea through. Two hours later, I “woke up” and told my dad that I really wanted to study in the US. Then,  we talked everything through. Thus, by the time I was back on the Russian soil, I felt better. For the rest of the month I was busy with applying to HHPrep and sending the documents. Soon, I went to my school to spend some time with my friends for the last time, and two days later, I departed to USA.

It was very difficult for me to decide whether I wanted to make a change, but it seems like it paid off, but I still understand that there will more changes and hard decisions in the future, which I will have to efficiently deal with for the better future.