You may have heard the expression, "Once you take a bite of the Big Apple, aka New York City, your life will never be the same"

For Martina, this was accurate.Martina grew up in Radovish, a town that is … not exactly New York. Its 15,000 residents live nestled at the foot of Plachkovica mountain. Martina spent the first two years of high school at American High School in Skopje before embarking on the Youth Exchange and Study program in Wisconsin, in the United States. Initially, she intended to pursue a degree in computer science. But a trip to New York last November completely shifted her perspective, which motivated her to pursue film and cinematography as a major. 

As Martina puts it so well, "The city inspires you to do something and to become someone." Having visited NYC myself this winter, Martina and I spent an hour chatting about what makes this city so special, impressive, and remarkable. 

Yet, it wasn't just a trip to New York that changed how Martina saw her future; her enrollment in an introductory video production class during her first semester also played a crucial role. She did so well that her instructor encouraged her to switch to the advanced video class. Not surprisingly, Visual Arts will be one of the classes she will take in the International Baccalaureate program at UWC Changshu over the next two years. She plans to pursue an arts degree at NYU or cinematography in L.A. Only time will tell.

Martina is already familiar with the sense of adaptability and resilience needed to be far away from home on a different continent and in a different time zone. Living in a dormitory in Skopje, a few hours away from her home, definitely helped her deal with the homesickness at the beginning when she left for the USA. As she recalls, "I adjusted better than I originally thought I would." She would return home to Radovish once or twice a month – which meant that, by the time she left for the exchange in the US, she was prepared to be away from home.

The exchange experience in the US among the diverse cohort she met from all over the world sparked her desire to apply to study abroad again, although this time instead of being 7 hours behind her home time zone, she will be 7 hours ahead.

Going away to study in China is just another leap forward. As she says, her family and friends, along with her cat, will miss her the most. However, she is delighted and looking forward to becoming acquainted with the new environment that will be her home for the next two years. One of her peers shared a 3D map of the college in China, and she is already in love with the picturesque, state-of-the-art campus in Changshu. On her bucket list for the upcoming two years is visiting world heritage landmarks like the Great Wall of China and the futuristic city of Shanghai. 

All we can do is wish her two years of positive transformation and progress in her new environment and wait to see how China will shape her path in the future. 

Nela Chestojanova,
July 2024