Many Nigerians have this image of what the United States and other Western countries are. They picture an idyllic situation where people don’t struggle, things work, and the government is on their side. The average Nigerian does not know what this feels like because of our country’s situation. While I knew that things would not be so smooth sailing, I did not expect the kind of hardship that comes with being an international student. A dream was sold to me, especially from my school, that further excited me, but I came to learn that many of these dreams were intended for citizens. While it is a land of opportunities and dreams, the US emphasizes the otherness of immigrants and international students with certain laws. Life as an international student has been very eye-opening. It has taught me so much about who I truly am. It has shown me my limits as I face battles that people (Americans and Nigerians in Nigeria alike) my age do not know of. From not making enough money to live –international students can only work campus jobs that pay minimum wage – to my parents struggling to keep up with the tuition as the currency exchange rate increases exponentially. It has tested me mentally too. I am becoming an adult in a way that feels faster than my friends back home, all while discovering who I am. I am learning that I am my own person, independent of my parents and all the things I was taught growing up about who I should be and what I should do in life. America showed me a bigger world with more possibilities than I was offered in my upbringing in Nigeria. I have struggled to balance being whom I have decided to be and upholding my deep-rooted ideals; essentially, I am trying to be myself without losing myself entirely. I have learned that there is nothing like my home country, and I will never be able to replace it. I can never fully settle in and belong to another country like I did in Nigeria. It was very confusing when I arrived here because I knew I wouldn’t entirely be an American, but I thought my differences would work well within my new relationships. Ultimately, no one could relate to my lived experiences or even understand some of my humor, not to mention the accent debacle. I had never missed Lagos, Nigeria, more than when I caught myself subconsciously code-switching with my American friends and acquaintances. I had begun to blend in a bit but at what cost? I dearly missed my country’s vibrant culture and began grasping at straws of it wherever I could find it. America taught me the true value of Nigeria, of a home country. I haven’t only had trying times here, though; America has done wonders for my career opportunities. I have spoken to people that would have been only dreams and hopes if I was in Nigeria. The world feels bigger here; I can do anything I set out to do because resources and people are at my fingertips. I have changed my mind about what career I want to go into multiple times since I moved here, and they have all seemed surreally possible. The US has proven to be the land of dreams in that area. So, while things may not be perfect, my world has opened up, and I can be whoever I want here; I have seen things and met people I would not otherwise have met, which means the world to me.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has a TED Talk titled “The Danger of a Single Story.” In the speech, she points out the problems that come with a singular view of a place or a group of people. If people took the small representation most communities get and placed everyone in that community in a box, there would be no growth, and frankly, we would not know one another as members of the human race. In the TED Talk, she gives an example of an encounter with an American man who assumed that all Nigerian men were like a character from her debut novel “Purple Hibiscus” who was abusive to his wife and children. She retorted by saying that “it was such a shame that all American men were serial murderers,” like the main character in “American Psycho.” That is a good but relatively harmless example, as a lack of apt representation has caused all hate crimes. Everyone deserves to go outside without fear that they could be hurt because of their skin color, accent, or other unique features. Diverse voices and stories in media are essential not only for others to have a good and almost accurate perspective of a specific community but also for the represented community members. They get to see themselves in the media they consume; they are reminded that their way of life and beliefs are normal. The West so overcomes the media; we know a lot of white faces, white stories, and white voices. The beauty of our world as we know it is that everyone from each country, each continent is so different. Every culture is so vibrant and exceptional, some more different than the next. We should not be restricted to just one story when there are many others to tell. Diverse voices and stories would also serve as a form of education for us; when communities share their stories, we learn more about them and gain more insight into their triumphs and struggles. It takes us out of the box we are placed in by growing up and living in one place. All our voices in our media would be a step toward a significant change in the world: it would change how we see one another and rid us of bias, whether conscious or unconscious. I genuinely believe it can take us to world peace or at least a semblance of it.

I have a story for you. It was 2021, and I was finalizing my plans to move to the United States for school; the naira-dollar exchange rate was increasing by the day, I had received scholarships from my university, but it was still expensive. My mother was sure we could ask for more scholarships from the university. I was mortified. I tried to tell her that you can’t just set up a meeting with the Admissions Office and ask for scholarships, but that was precisely what she did. She would not take no for an answer. The meeting was held, and long story short, I was sent an offer for a program that would give me a good amount of additional scholarship, but that was only the least of it. That program introduced me to my host family, who quickly became my home away from home. My host parents took me in like their child and made it their mission to make me feel at home in a new country. That program gave me a much better first year than I imagined. My mother is truly the catalyst for all the good things in my life. My mom taught me many things through the way she carried herself. I grew up desiring the grace that she has, the work ethic, the resilience, and the strength. She single-handedly showed her children patience and genuine love, spending quality time with us all while being a working woman. She has always been my greatest cheerleader, attending all of my performances and events; in anything I was involved in, she was there front and center, screaming my name the loudest (there is video evidence of this). My mother always took her children’s dreams as hers and pushed us to achieve them. I have never had as much faith in myself as my mom has in my sisters and me. She’s shown and taught me that with drive and passion, anything is possible. I may seem biased because I am talking about the most remarkable woman on Earth, but she is not only a great mother but a reliable friend, a dependable sister, and a phenomenal leader. Growing up, I saw her treat people around her with such respect and love, no matter who they were to her. Children need to grow up around respect and love because it carries them through all relationships in life. I cannot imagine myself not seeing life through any other lens. I have always thought I would have made it if I grew up to be half the woman she is. Half as kind, half as determined, with half the heart she has. I could neither be the person I am nor where I am today without the backing and strength of the woman that gave me life, my very best friend, my mother.

I have always been fascinated by death, what happens when people die, where they go, and what they feel while transcending the planes. Growing up, I never experienced a close family death, so I always wondered what that would feel like and how I would react because I saw its effect on other people, but I could never feel their grief. Everyone also grieves differently, so I could not model my grief after another person’s experience. In 2020, a close family member of mine died. It was on what felt like a random Monday in May, but that Monday changed my life. He was full of life and joy, even in the face of trials and tribulations. He never carried his problems on his appearance and made everyone forget about theirs. Even now, I cannot understand how somebody so full of life would suddenly not have it anymore. The day he passed, something shifted. It was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and honestly, I was already losing hope in many things. The walls seemed to be closing on me, and the world was ending (I was so sure), and then suddenly, the day I had wondered about had come, and I felt nothing. Although naturally, my first personal death experience should have plunged me into darkness, it did something else: it taught me to live well. To live as though I could die tomorrow because death is unfair; it doesn’t have criteria for whom it catches in its hands. It taught me the legacy one’s life will inevitably leave on the people surrounding them - for good or bad, people will remember how you made them feel. I learned not to give in to anger, a trait that had grown on me because of how prolific it was in my childhood. Anger has a permanent impact, one that I do not want people to connect with me. I wanted to leave a legacy identical to my late uncle’s because I cannot think of him now without picturing his smile or hearing his nickname for me (he had one for everyone). I cannot think of him and feel anything but positivity. I look back on memories with so much gratitude. So above everything I seek to achieve in my life, I strive to make people laugh, to make everyone feel like they belong. I want my name to be synonymous with joy because there is nothing like that. Nothing like having someone you can be absolutely comfortable and “at home” with. That random Monday took one of those people from me but taught me to be that person for other people.

The cathartic element of the arts is unmatched. Creative arts have an affinity for making people feel something. Tears stream down your face at the end of a movie, the full-body chills when listening to the perfect harmony in a song, the frustration when that character does the complete opposite of what is best for them, causing you to throw the book across the room. Said arts also pull people from all walks of life together, forming multiple communities. The museums, movie theaters, book clubs, concerts, et cetera are places where people gather to appreciate the arts. It breeds connections and gives people a reason to live. The arts also give certain people a healthy outlet for emotions they may not know how to express. Seeing these emotions mirrored in the arts helps people feel less alone and makes them feel seen. The privilege of witnessing situations, feelings, illnesses, and disorders represented in all art forms tends to be overlooked as an innately human experience—a healing and wholesome feel. I love the creative arts because I am passionate about people. I am intrigued by how different people perceive life based on their backgrounds and how people can create from within themselves and take from art already created. I love the connection humans can have with one another, with animals, and with pieces of art. It is magical that we can have such bonds and what I believe to be a significant part of our existence. Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater) is a film that perfectly encapsulates my point. It realistically captures humans in their natural form with one another, seeking love, connection, and adventure, finding it with one another, and acting upon it. It follows two people who find each other on a train to different destinations but, after one conversation, explore Vienna with each other for the day. They have multiple discussions, getting to know and falling for each other. The film means a lot to me because I related to both characters in separate ways. It was deeply cathartic for me because it was the first time I felt something in a while at the time I was watching it. I love film; it is my cathartic release (both filming and watching). I also love music and am fascinated by the making of music, the joining of harmonies to the melody and instrumentals to make the ear's most satisfying and pleasurable sounds. I am glad I live in a world with many creative art forms. Anytime I encounter a spectacular form of art, I think, “this is why I’m alive.”

I was fourteen years old, three years away from graduating from secondary school, but I had a dream: I would study in the United States. It seemed impossible to my family and me, but it could happen. I could make it happen. A friend once told me, “Maro, you really get everything you set your mind to.” Honestly, she saw that in me before I saw it in myself. Determination is a quality that has led me to the point I am in life. If I am passionate about something and driven to get it, I will. If I envision a goal, I work hard to bring it to life. I am driven by the image of my future self, enjoying the product of my hard work and belief in myself. I pictured my mother’s face when she received the news that her first child was going to school in the country of her dreams. Approaching goals with a strong drive is the easiest part; having the discipline to stick to the process even when things get tough and optimism wanes the hardest. Virtually everything one can dream of is at the other end of determination and willingness to put in the work. I knew what I wanted but had yet to learn how to get it because I had never been taught. I had to teach myself. And that came with its challenges; sometimes we need someone to explain the intricacies of things, so I went to people; some strayed me away from my goal - intentionally and unintentionally – some others were rooting for me. If I let the people who made me feel my goal was unattainable keep me in that mindset, I would be living a different life from the one I dreamed about. I did not allow rejection letters to stop me; I did not let confusion and discouragement deter me. I was going to earn a scholarship and move across the world. Today, I am in my second year at a university in the United States, pinching myself every day that this is truly my life. This is all fourteen-year-old me wished for, and sixteen-year-old me worked for. I strongly believe I can do absolutely anything and that mindset will open more doors for me than I can think of. Moving out of Nigeria became genuinely pivotal, not just because I was physically starting over but because it showed me who I am. It showed me just how driven and focused I could be, how it could get me anything I desire and put me right where I want to be.

Books: My Great Escape Two girls, two boys, one dog, and me, of course, going on adventures to solve mysteries in their English town. Nothing could compare to the feeling of pure bliss I got when I opened a new The Famous Five novel for the first time (I re-read them multiple times in my childhood). I have been a reader for longer than I can remember now. Every time I think back on my life, there has been a book in hand, a different world to get lost in each time. The Famous Five series (1942-1962) was introduced to me when I was only eight. It changed my perception of books; it became my form of escapism. Reading had always been my primary source of entertainment, but I did not know why. Blyton’s picturesque writing transported me to Dorset, England, in the 50s from my home or school in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2012. I have my brain’s version of the character’s town ingrained in my mind to this day; the way I pictured the characters (yes, even the dog) made them my companions, as though they had secretly invited me on their mystery-solving escapades. The Famous Five: Five Get into Trouble was the first I ever read; that was where the transformation began. Enid Blyton showed me that good, timeless writing could be the best form of escapism for absolutely anybody on the planet. It can be there for someone in need of a friend or a family; it can take the reader from bad to good in a matter of minutes. Enid Blyton’s Famous Five introduced me to escapism. It made me fall in love with reading, a hobby that has single-handedly saved my life. It gave me a different life from the one I had, brought me joy in times of darkness, and definitely began my book addiction. In my worst and lowest times, the characters of these stories have brought me peace, and books have given me hope. Seeing some of their stories end well reminds me that life will not always be bad, confusing, or stressful. Darkness does not get to win in the end. Even when it feels like darkness overcomes, books have taken me out of it for hours at a time, they have given me a break, and sometimes that is what one needs to combat the troubles life brings. Good times will come, the mystery will be solved, and the rest will be happily ever after.

It is not news that there are a number of aspects in the preparation for returning to school: physically, mentally, financially, and so on. So, my best back-to-school tip is to be fully mentally prepared. We know that school can be extremely draining and even sometimes overwhelming. You need to come to terms with what is ahead of you and do everything in your power to set up a system and build the discipline to stick to it. You need time management, concentration, drive but most of all you need to have a system that brings you peace, that relieves you, something that reignites your fire when you are burnt out. You cannot pour from an empty cup, that is to say, you cannot put your best into academics if you are not at your best. Take breaks when you can and remind yourself that you come first. With the right amount of balance, you can take on school and life simultaneously and succeed.

This question would have stumped me in the past because I was unsure of where my life was heading and honestly, I occasionally have those thoughts even nowadays. My ultimate dream - as of right now - is to make an impact wherever I have contact. Whether it is my job, avocations, friends or family, I want to be remembered for how I made people feel. To try my best to ensure that my people never feel alone, that they feel welcomed and comfortable always. Even in death, I want people's hearts to be warmed by their memory of me.

I am Nigerian, born and raised. I grew up and lived in Lagos, Nigeria for 17 years but about 15 years in, I decided that my world could be so much more than my country and the opportunities beyond my horizon were infinite. With no sure knowledge of how to afford it, I decided that I was going to university in the United States of America. I worked and applied to various schools and scholarships that ultimately ended in success as I was granted admission and scholarship to my current school, Oglethorpe University. I accepted these with my parents’ blessing but there was still a great deal of fees to face – especially with the rising exchange rate of the Nigerian naira to the US dollar. We placed one foot in front of the other, concluding that we had come thus far and would figure out ways to foot the bills. That, by a long shot is the most difficult but bravest decision I have had to make and every day since then, I have lived boldly, grasping every opportunity that has come my way set out to make the most of being here in the US. I am determined to prove that the money being spent to give me the best education possible is not in vain. It definitely was not easy moving across the world, away from the only place that ha been home and I have chosen instead of living in perpetual fear of the unknown, to grab life by the horns all for the ultimate joy and gratitude of my future self.

If you asked me what my goal in life was in 2012, I probably would have told you I wanted to be a teacher or to be married at 23 years old. Naturally, my 8-year-old brain had relatively limited knowledge of the way life works, the endless opportunities that I could possibly chase. Over time since then, my aspirations have changed several times, reflecting what I felt was most important to me at the time with my changing age and dynamic interests. But it was not until three years ago that it hit me that I could be and do more than I realized. This epiphany birthed my dream of moving to the United States for university. The education system in my country, Nigeria, is great and I am grateful to have grown up through it but with my newly realized potential, I saw an opportunity to broaden my horizon and decided that I absolutely had to take it. It seemed crazy, but there’s so many things determination and a clear vision would bring a person. That was the beginning of my crazy, big dreaming. Now when if you ask me what my goal in life is, I would say to be successful. Success is very subjective: everyone has their own definitions of what it is to them. To me, success is comfort, discomfort, joy and being surrounded by love. While I do want to attain comfort in my career choice and in my living situation, I also want to keep pushing boundaries by stepping out of my comfort zone in all aspects of life. I am aware that if I want to make any kind of impact on people in my life and even the world at large, I cannot do it sticking to only experiences, people, or cultures that I am accustomed to so there is a level of discomfort I must endure to gain the comfort that I desire. Ironically, they go hand in hand. Permanent happiness is an extremely essential criterium to consider myself successful. If I push myself to the top but cannot delight in it, it would not be complete; I would not have success. I want to love what I do and not just do it because it pays me. I chose my major, Communications (Media Studies Track) for that reason, I want it to give me a career that I am passionate about, something I would actually enjoy. I am fascinated by the media industry and all of the processes that bring us the media we consume. In terms of impact, even if mine is felt on a small fraction of the world, my ongoing dream is to use whatever platform I have to do all I can to deal with social issues – especially issues regarding discrimination and children. I want to shed light on parts of these topics that are often overlooked. I know that even now, my career or life choices are still subject to change but my idea of success is one thing that will be steady for a long time. Those are the things that make me keep going, that keep my head up in times when things feel hopeless.