My name is Ulyana Pyrlik and I am a junior at Mead High School. My homeland is Kazakhstan, a country with a unique history and friendly people of different nationalities. I was attending a high school there when heard from a classmate about an opportunity to spend the whole year in the USA. This idea was really fascinating for me, considering my interest of experiencing completely new and different lifestyles, meeting new people, and studying English.

I enjoyed participating in the Olympiads and other contests and receiving awards and I always wanted to develop my abilities. In my free time, I met with friends, read classical books, went cycling for the long trips, and took pictures. But once news of the FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) program came to my life, the rhythm of my life changed.

The Future Leaders Exchange Program encourages all high school students with creativity, leadership skills, and the willingness to have new experiences to try to win a scholarship in the USA! The main purpose of this program is to help students understand the difference in an American society, share their own culture with the native citizens, and acquire new skills and learn more about American customs. Sounds amazing, right?

Being approved for the participation, I imagined my future year: my host family, future friends with their style of living, a big high school with an opportunity to choose the subjects and participating in American holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving day, and Christmas are ones which I am most excited about!

But it took a lot for me to leave my home country—changing the family, leaving my lovely native parents and cheerful friends. Overcoming many difficulties, we all stayed positive and open-minded, willing to gain more emotions and impressions. And here they are! The exchange program brought many new positive people in my life, expanded my circle of contacts and now I am surrounded by my wonderful American host parents who present me their culture!

From the early beginning of my participation in the program I’ve met many international friends and it was so enthralling when all shared their culture being native representatives of their countries: Ukraine, Latvia, India, Armenia, Italy, Brazil, Czech Republic, and so on . It is interesting to know students’ stories, aims, and their positive resources.

I am spending the essential part of my time at our Mead High School, which I really enjoy! It is a stately building with a big territory that lets students play any sports they want and has friendly people everywhere. When I, along with other exchange students Meemee, Marina, Mickey, Gabriel, and Riccardo, entered Mead school the first time, a group of students kindly presented us the structure of a building and had us meet teachers and counselors who helped us to choose our subjects. It was a little complicated to make your schedule because of the large variety of courses. You want to try everyone but there are only eight blocks! That day I chose the Journalism class right off the bat because it was one I was most interested in. I was working as a photo reporter at my school back home and really enjoyed it, and I also always wanted to expand my abilities in the writing sphere. Now I am happy working with my Journalism course staff who do a great job together for The Mav newspaper! I will continue writing about other exchange students at our school for now.

During my year here in the USA I want to volunteer a lot, meet more friends, discover more traditions, and visit many places!