From the moment we are born until we die, we embark on this lifetime Journey.
My journey began on a snowy winter day in a small village in Romania. My childhood was shaped by instability and changes of scenery, which I feel really contributed to who I am today.
After my parents left the country to build a better future for the family, I was raised by my Grandma. I remember beautiful natural scenes of a wild, free little girl running through fields, playing with plants, and drinking fresh cow’s milk.
Everything suddenly changed at age 5, when I had to move to my aunt’s house in the city. It was the first great shock of my life: going from complete freedom to feeling like a bird in a cage, fiercely educated by an exigent auntie and nuns at school.
Not even the time to get used to that environment, one year later, my parents decide to reunite the family, and I am moved to Italy.
So there I was, 6 years old, in a new country, with a new family, a new language, and a new school. I am grateful that, as a kid, you adapted very quickly, and it was easy for me to learn the language by being among classmates. At the same time, I’ve developed a huge passion for learning and studying, finding comfort in all subjects from history to geography, science, math, and the arts; they were all fascinating for me.
Studying became my anchor, a safe space where I was undisturbed by the external world, a coping mechanism that stays with me to this day.
I lived in Italy until I was 16, when I decided to move back to Romania to spend time with my grandma, who was getting older.
Once again, I was the new girl, in a new country, new school, this time all by myself, Relearning a language that somehow felt both familiar and foreign. If in Italy I had a great group of supportive friends and school was exciting, in Romania I didn’t find the same environment, so I turned to books, this time focusing my energy on my desire to help people and get admitted to med school.
My whole life, I was into literature and humanitarian studies, so I had to start from 0 with science and chemistry. Even though no one around me would bet a penny on my success, I was admitted with great results.
Med school was quite challenging in many aspects, but I will leave this subject for another time.