At first it was just another regular school day in the middle of October; I had no idea that my future would be changed that day. My first hour teacher walked into the classroom and said that the school had received a telephone call from an international exchange organization.

The organization asked if there were any students in our school who studied English and who would want to apply for a scholarship offered by United States Department of State that would enable the recipient to study for a year in America. I was very excited about this opportunity! When I asked my parents for permission to apply, they agreed surprisingly fast; maybe it was because they did not believe at that moment that I could actually win, but it did not matter to me. My friends did not share my excitement. They told me that in order to win, one would have to have superior English skills and absolutely perfect health, but I still decided to apply.

There was nothing to lose - if I won, it would be the greatest thing in my life. If I did not, well, at least I had tried. I could hardly wait until the day of testing! Finally, the day arrived on which we were supposed to take our first test. Representatives of the American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) came to our school, so we were in a familiar room and did not have to go to a place that might be inaccessible or uncomfortable for blind or visually impaired people. There were two women, one Russian and one American. They introduced themselves, told us about the program and gave us the qualification tests.

I found the first test very easy; one of the ACTR representatives read the questions out loud and all we had to do was just pay attention. Later one of my teachers told me that I passed the first test with a very high score. I was very happy to hear that because I believe that a good start means a lot. The second test started about 45 minutes later. I looked at the paper with questions and realized that I could not see anything. The letters were so small and I had forgotten my magnifying glass at home. What could I do? I thought my test was over. I was going to leave when I heard a very nice and gentle voice behind me: "Do you want me to read the questions for you?" this woman asked. "Is it allowed?" I asked. "Yes," she responded. "It is called reasonable accommodations." This second test was much harder than the first one. I thought that I did not understand  more than half of all the words, but it did not stop me. After the questions there was an essay portion. The writing space was very small, and I cannot write that small. Once again I heard the voice of my friendly helper: "We have a tape recorder if you would like to speak instead of writing." "Reasonable accommodations?" I asked. "Exactly!" she said.

As I walked home that day, I was both excited and nervous. I had never been so close to my dream. Nobody from my family had ever been outside of Russia, but I had always dreamed about countries far away. Since I was a little kid, I wanted to be an explorer. When I saw exchange students on TV, I thought about how lucky they were to see other countries, live together with people of other cultures and know foreign languages well enough to communicate without any problems. I always thought it would be great if I could do that.

My family is too poor to pay for an exchange program and my vision is severely impaired, which also can be seen as a problem. And yet there the opportunity was before me. If I won this scholarship, I wouldn't have to pay anything and my disability would not a problem. I had to wait more than two months for the results of my test. I passed the second test and for the final selection I had to fill out the application, which included 12 different forms. Filling out the application was not very difficult; it was even fun because in many parts of it I had to be creative. My application was mailed to the United States, and once again I had to wait for the final results.

I will never forget that April day when I picked up the telephone and heard that I was selected to go to the United States. I jumped for joy! On July 18, I left Russia to start my adventure in America. That year I traveled more than ever. I saw both oceans, different states and cities, and I made friends with people all over the country. I attended two different public schools. My first school in Savannah, Georgia, had a  Disability Officer who helped me to adjust to the new situation. He also gave me information about low vision organizations and the local Independent Living Center, which helped me a lot. I enjoyed studying the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) very much. Later I moved to my permanent host family in Florida. I had a great time there. I lived in the place where summer never ends.

At the end of the year I was invited to participate in the program evaluation workshop together with other disabled students in the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program. This workshop was organized by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State and Mobility International USA (MIUSA). During the  workshop, we gave suggestions on how to improve the program and make it even better than it is now.

For my last weekend in America, my host family took me to the Florida Keys. We had a lot of fun there, so it was not very important that it was raining all the time. We were together and that was the most important thing. Now that my year in the United States is over, I want to say thank you to everyone who helped make it possible.