At age 18, I moved from Uruguay to California for college. It’s crazy to think about it, but I never really gave much thought to why I was doing that. In fact, I only started pondering the question after already being in California. I wanted to come to America because I thought I would get a better education, but to be honest, that alone may not justify such a big change. The truth is, my life was great in Uruguay. I had a great group of friends, my family, and my then-girlfriend there. Additionally, the education in Uruguay isn’t bad. So even though I had reasons for moving, it’s almost as if I didn’t think deeply about it until after it was already done, which is… not a great situation to be in.
Arriving in California and being alone there, thousands of kilometers away from all my loved ones, really made me think about why I made the choices I did. Part of me always wants to push myself as much as possible in whatever endeavor I’m doing, but at some point, you start to think, is this really worth it? My first year at college was all about me having these thoughts and trying to find answers. I found my refuge in books, reading a lot about the purpose of life.
“Man’s Search for Meaning” was the book that kind of clarified my thoughts. It made me start to think about what my own purpose was and what I wanted to get out of life in general. That’s a big question, and I’m not even sure I have a good answer for myself, but I ultimately decided my purpose was to have as positive of an impact on my communities as I could. With that in mind, my choices started to focus on the answer to one question: will this help me be useful on my communities now or later? I decided that being in California would help me with that more than anything else, which is why I decided to stay. And I’m really glad I did. I don’t think I would have grown nearly as much if I hadn’t stayed here. I met some of the greatest, kindest, and smartest people, realized I was much stronger mentally than I ever thought, and generally lived a life I can say I genuinely like.
Moving to California also opened my eyes to the things I really appreciate about Uruguay and what there is to learn from the US (a lot). I still wonder if and when I should go back to Uruguay since I would love to work on something that helps the country that gave me everything in my childhood years. I also still miss my family a lot, and that’s one of my biggest concerns about staying in the US. When I first came, I was sure I would go back to Uruguay immediately after college. But now, after nearly six years, I realize staying was the right choice. It showed me how you can be convinced about something for your future and then change your mind.
I don’t know what will happen in the next six years, and in a way, that’s what makes life exciting. I just hope I can be in a place where I’m happy with what I did before and still excited about what’s to come.