After Graduation

After Graduation

People usually plan what they are going to do with their life after high school graduation even before that last school year has completed. But that was not my case; I was not sure what I was going to do. I had to make a final decision between attending to college or attempt playing baseball. Unfortunately, I did not make it through baseball, then I decided to enroll in college. Just before doing that, a friend of mine told me I could obtain a baseball scholarship at a university in the United States.

The correct procedure was done and on January 15th, 2009 I took off and moved to the States. I was going to attend Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland. I was pretty excited although I was going to be in another country with another language and a different culture. My plane was going to land at JFK airport where a cousin named Lebis would pick me up. Something I did not know was that those were going to be the coldest days in decades and I was not used to cold weather.

I stayed for a few days at Lebis’ house in New Jersey to spend time with some relatives and meet some friends I had long time no see. The day before leaving to Baltimore I went shopping to obtain all the articles I would need. Lebis took me to my destination a few days before school was open to have a meeting with the director of the Athletic Department and complete clearance for my dorm room. After the meeting, the director himself took me to the Human and Health Building on campus to have a Tuberculosis test that was required to complete clearance. I could not stay in the dorm that night because the results would be ready for the next day; I had to sleep on the couch of a teammate for that night.

I was supposed to have the results the next morning and be allowed to occupy my dorm room, but there was a snowstorm predicted and the clinic did not open. The storm lasted for the next three days, days I had to sleep in the same couch because I could not have the results. After the storm ceased, the streets were impassable for two days and the clinic did not open. Finally, the clinic opened and I had the results to complete the clearance, then I occupied my dorm room. After almost a complete week sleeping in a future friend’s couch, I could sleep in my own bed and be ready for classes and baseball practices that began the following week.

In the early days in the States my experience was not too pleasant. Luckily, I am one of those who thinks people have to see the positive side of all situations and could make the best of what many would think was a bad experience. In that week I stayed at the house of who would become my closest friend there, met his friends who were of great help when I needed somebody, and learned slightly how an organized country works. Although I could not finish college there, because I inured my arm and lost my scholarship, and had to start all over again when I

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