Living abroad: United States (2017-2018)
I moved to the US in 2009 after having won an ASSIST full scholarship to study for a year (grade 11) in a private boarding school in the US: Northfield Mount Hermon School (1.5h from Boston, Massachusetts). It was the first time I left Moldova/Romania region, I was 17 and was supposed to fully immerse in the culture (haven’t seen my family for a year), so this circumstances had a huge impact on my impression of the US. I really enjoyed my year, met a ton of students from many countries and built skills that helped me achieve other successes later on it life. I very much enjoyed the educational system in the US which is based more on building skills & discussions/debates, rather than taking notes and absorbing knowledge. My days included tons of sports which still didn’t stop me from gaining 10kg that year 🙂 I didn’t realize food was not organic by default (like I was used to back home). I did enjoy the weather in that part of the country as it reminded me of home: all 4 seasons and especially beautiful autumn leaves. I didn’t travel much as I was on a tight budget, except for a visit to my friend in Washington DC (which I loved in spring). I won’t make a list here on what you could visit in the US as it would take me ages, but here are some PROS and CONS I find in the idea of living there:
PROS
- Excellent quality educational system
- Excellent quality medical care
- Choice & diversity of weather
- Many job opportunities in diverse areas
CONS
- Expensive educational system
- Expensive medical care
- You have to make quite an effort to find healthy organic food
- Not many paid vacation days / no guaranteed paid maternity leave
