#amnaejaz

Our world is a diverse planet that gives home to a great number of species to live and sustain. People and cultures are representative of countries. Pakistan and US are one of the many countries who have had quite fluctuating relations since past many decades. We are different people with completely different cultures, languages and societal norms. US is the first international country that I have visited and it's my first time away from home. 5 weeks here have evolved me as a person, developed me to be a global citizen along with being a Pakistani. Everyday, I experience striking differences in cultures that I had never seen before. Being born and brought up in an eastern culture and then now experiencing western cultures has given me a feel to have seen the two halves of the worlds. I came to know about the term "American dream". For the first couple of days, American dream seemed to me the best scene you can picture your life in. But, after some time I realized that despite all the comforts that the American life offers, the people on both sides of the worlds have their dark side that they both try to escape through different ways and similarly try to strive for brighter side. This brings me to a conclusion that people, no matter which region of the world they belong to, are very similar regardless of cultural, linguistic, and societal differences.

Presidential campaign simulation 2020. This week has been great because we all were pretty serious in putting forward the best presidential debate we could to win it. Congratulations to Hasan and his team for wining the campaign!!

It's been 3 weeks since we are in US and one thing that is clearly commendable is the quality of education. Classes are interactive, sessions are preplanned and systematic. All the students were quite participative and everyone seemed to enjoy their selves. We had a diverse set of subjects that we discussed in each class for better understanding of policy making. I had always viewed problem solving from different and less systematic perspective but now I am learning a lot new stuff that I had not known before which now has broaden my perspective of policy making process. Our morning class starts at 10 am and each day we discuss a new and more diverse topic, I have talked and participated in very sensitive topics here that I would never have openly shared my opinion about anywhere else. I value that people listen to respect my opinions without any judgement. Not that I have more confidently began to share my perspectives but also I have learnt to listen and respect others' opinions too no matter how in contrast they are from mine. And this is my biggest achievement here.

4th of July, American independence day. It was the first time I experienced celebrating some other country’s independence festivities and realized how we all share the same feelings towards our land. Independence is a hard earned victory. It takes blood, sweat and a lot of patience. 
Our July 4th started with witnessing parade in chesterfield. I really liked vintage car show and this tall guy you can see in the photo. Claudia, our program mentor, did an amazing face painting on me (You are awesome, Claud). After the parade was over we went to barbecue party at Chuck’s house. We had such a great time. I got to know about this crazy game called egg throwing. So in this game basically you have to keep throwing egg at your partner and he/she has to catch it gently without breaking and both have to step back a little at each throw. Oh dear! Was that fun. Fun fact: eggs do not break when they fall on grass, no matter how far you throw it from. 
After the barbecue we returned to dorms and had res because the best part of the day was yet to come, the FIREWORKS. So at night we head out to Amherst Stadium to watch fireworks. I had never seen such fireworks before. I lied there on a matt, mesmerized by the illuminated sky. That time so far is my best time at Amherst. 4th of July was now over, giving us great memories to cherish for the rest of our lives.