Why Tufts?
Tufts, because when my roommate and I share three things we’re each grateful for at the end of every day, I never run out of things to say. Here, I am learning all the time, from when I wake up till when my eyelids finally shut -- about people, education, relationships, social justice, technology, history, food, languages, dance, seahorses, the nuances of U.S. society, life, coffee, toilets and more. I never expected my teachers to come in the forms of the wonderful dining hall staff, the Muslim chaplain, a professor who knows the homeless people in Harvard Square by name, my roommate who grew up on the opposite side of the planet from me, the girl from the town next door who can make the best frog face, teenagers in English as a Second Language classrooms in a Boston school … Through discussions and experiences in and out of class -- about race, gender, class, colonialism, power and oppression -- I am having my worldview turned inside out, upside down. As much as every day here on the hill is absolutely overwhelming, nowhere else in the world have I ever felt so warm and comfortable, yet stretched and challenged in just the right ways. Looking back at my “Why Tufts” essay from 1.5 years ago (was it really that far back?!), I realise that 99 percent of what I wrote still absolutely stands -- but there’s so much more that I could never have seen coming. So as I trudge through the snow up and down the hill every day, get super confused in classes, share hilarious conversations over dinner at Dewick, get to know the kindest professors, wade through assignments, allow those weirdly philosophical 2am conversations to unfold … I know this is exactly where I need to be in this chapter of my life. That’s why!