Crashing barriers: Language Study in the U.S.
When I was told that I was chosen as the other alumna to receive a scholarship from the American English Institute (AEI) at the University of Oregon, I could not believe it.
Everything began in the summer of 2006 when I participated as a delegate in the Third Women’s Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD) in Eugene, Oregon, USA. At the end of the program, Mobility International USA (MIUSA) staff announced that two of the delegates would be rewarded with a scholarship from AEI at University of Oregon for one term. Each delegates looked excited and in their eyes you could see the desire to be ‘the chosen’ one. But this would not be known while we were there in Eugene that summer.
After I went back to my country Albania, I applied for this scholarship and in July of last year, MIUSA told me that I was ‘the chosen’ one to go to Eugene at university to study English language. I cannot describe the excitement I felt but at the same time I had a big fear.
The scholarship covered just the tuition and I needed approximately $4000 more for my living expense and my plane ticket. It was time for me to raise money and to write proposals for raising funds. Thus, I started by writing a lot of letters to many Albanian and American foundations that provide scholarships for education. From many of them I received a lot of polite replies giving me reasons why they could not provide me with what I was asking them for.
I was nearly hopeless but then there was a light. Through their affiliation with World Learning Program, USAID enabled me to go and study at the AEI. At last my dream came true. The first time I went to the USA to MIUSA’s program, I challenged myself but the second time at the University of Oregon I crashed the barriers. On September 22, 2007, after a 27 hours flight I found myself at the airport in Eugene where my American friends Mike & Rebekah were waiting for me. They drove me to my home stay family, Leslie, where I stayed for two months and half. I had a great experience with Mike, Rebekah and Leslie, who showed me a lot of aspects from the American culture and lifestyle.
The first week was the orientation week. During this week we had been introduced to the AEI staff, we had a safety meeting, registration for classes and an ‘International Coffee Hour’ where we met other international students. In the last day, we went to Saturday Market where we looked for handmade crafts and had lunch.
Then for nine weeks we had classes. We studied academic English in four aspects: Oral Skills, Reading, Writing and Grammar. We learned how to represent a topic, how to write a position paper, how to cite and how to improve our grammar. What impressed me the most was the teachers’ interaction with the students. The main methods used were discussion and debate. In addition to the knowledge gained from the teachers, we also gained a lot of knowledge from different cultures. At the AEI there were students from different countries of the world, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China and Uzbekistan. We often discussed and presented various aspects from the culture of our own country.
I would like to emphasize the fact that the University of Oregon offers much accessibility to people with disabilities. I was told that I was not the first person to receive the scholarship and study at the AEI. Enabling students with disability study at University of Oregon is a practice that MIUSA and AEI have been doing for years.
I would like to thank to MIUSA and AEI for the opportunity they give to people with disabilities to improve their education. I am really grateful to be one of the disabled persons to study at an American university. This experience will improve many things in my job. Working as the Foreign Coordinator for the Albanian Para-Quadriplegic Organization, good English skills will help me understand better my foreign partners, write good proposals in English, as well as keep in touch with foundations from other countries while creating new relation with other international organizations in disability field.
