The Best Days Are here

Posted by Alya AlHarrasi on
October 15, 2021
Photo of the author, Alya AlHarrasi

The nervousness mingled with excitement that sprints through freshmen as the beginning of an academic year at WMU starts. Starting “the best years of a person’s life,” as people say, raises questions about someone’s own life. “Are the best days the ones I am living right now?” freshmen would ask themselves timidly.

My first thought in a plane traveling across the world was, “Am I dreaming?” After hearing stories growing up from Omani students studying abroad, here is my time to tell my own stories for years to come. WMU welcomed me with open arms, and with time I found a new home, precisely at the LHC. I’m incredibly blessed to grow up in a household where my voice was heard, and my opinion mattered. That's where I learned the power of words, so to be able to experience that here too was a happy surprise.

How did enrolling in the Lee Honors College make a difference in my life? I have found that the reasons it impacted my life exceed the word limit I have for this writing. But, I will name a few that made me want to take part. First, there is something to learn from everyone. In those various weekly events hosted by the LHC, you will engage and relate to people who are in the same boat as you, but with different destinations. You will explore your interests by learning with and from intellectually driven students and professors. Along the way, you will learn to embrace the unknown. You will eventually find friends among strangers and a home in a foreign land. Not everyone you meet will continue to influence your daily life. But some will come and leave a mark on you that no amount of time will erase. Others will come like a refreshing breeze and leave you with a huge smile.

Coming to study in the US and being fully part of the LHC—all of it is a dream to me. As simple and elegant as the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” We, as humans, we have dreams. Dreams greater than reality and bigger than life. Dreams that fulfill our soul, drain our energy and consume our time. Dreams that motivate us to better ourselves and expand our circle. Hold tightly to your dreams and profoundly believe that life is limitless. The best days are the ones we currently have in hand and the ones ahead of us. I plan to make the most out of my time here at the LHC. I hope you do, too.