My name is Rezwana Islam. I was born and raised in Bangladesh, a country which is poor when it comes to financial wealth but rich when it comes to culture and tradition, a country where I breathed and opened my eyes for the first time.  Bangladesh will always be my first love, where I want to spend the rest of my life. The picture on the right remindme of our national flag. Red and green represents the color of Bangladeshi flag (though the red part is not round and centered here as in our national flag), whenever I see this picture I think it is Bangladesh.

If I were to choose to live anywhere but my native country, I would choose New York. What can I tell about New York? The crowd, the diversity, and bumper to bumper traffic, these all remind me of my hometown, Dhaka. One thing I love about New York is it never sleeps. As a nocturnal person I enjoy it very much. In New York, I never feel that I am thousands and thousands of miles away from my home country since I get to see people from my country every where, every day. After coming to New York, working wasn’t a mandatory option for me. I didn’t have to think about my tuition fees since my dad bears the expenditure of my education.  From my early childhood I got everything I wanted but never realized how lucky I was. Coming to New York and watching other foreign students work for a living made me realize how lucky I was. So, I went to work since I wanted to do something for my parents. When I got my first paycheck, I spent my entire paycheck on buying presents for my parents. That moment of my life brought me an intense pleasure that I never felt before. New York not only gave me a glimpse of independence but also turned me into a machine. Juggling with my work and study I hardly had any time to talk with my loved ones back home. And I am going to regret this for the rest of my life. Are you confused about what I am saying? Let me make this clear. I never wished my mom a happy Mother’s Day after coming to New York because I was busy 24/7. Last Mother’s Day my mother was anticipating my phone call, but I couldn’t reach her. The day after when I was explaining to her why I couldn’t call her (even though she didn’t ask), I realized how much she was expecting my call when she said very calmly: “oh! It’s my luck”. That was my last chance to wish her a happy Mother’s Day since she passed away. Every time I went back home I took pictures of my Grandmother because I thought the next time I came I might not see her. Not for a single moment did I think I would lose my mom so early, so sudden. My mother’s passing away had a serious impact on me. I dropped all of my courses and went back home and stayed there for a while. Nothing was worthwhile to me anymore and I completely lost all my ambition. It took me a while to realize my mother wouldn’t have wanted me to live an unhappy and unsuccessful life; she would have been happy to see me achieving my goal. So, I came back to New York and concentrated on reaching my goal. Enough of my personal thoughts! Now let me talk about my student life.

     Entering this college was a major step for me. It introduced me to a whole different environment. Studying and working among diverse students with different racial backgrounds has improved my interpersonal skills. It has taught me that each culture has different ideas and ways of thinking. I came to realize that sometimes an image can represent some thing without saying anything. When I first came to LaGuardia, I had no idea about college life. I was worried about how I was going to fit in. The first thing I noticed were all the flags on the ceiling of the building. When I saw the flag of my country, I had a feeling that I would be able to blend in. That’s how my journey at LaGuardia began. Life at LaGuardia has been exciting so far. But it wasn’t easy at the beginning since English is not my first language. My lack of the English language affected my grade and my self esteem and I ended up with “B” grades for the first two semesters. But I didn’t give up and I tried as best as I could to improve. My hard work paid off because I managed to be on the Dean's list. Now, I am an honor student at the college and currently a member of Phi Theta Kappa which is an honor society.

      I would love to start off my professional career by being an elementary school teacher. I may not be making as much money as a doctor, lawyer or a pharmacist, but I will be doing something I love and enjoy. Besides, teaching is the only profession where I can have more vacation which would allow me to spend more time with my family and to do all sorts of work that I have interest in. Becoming a teacher would mean that I would have to have a lot of knowledge about various subjects so that I can explain many kinds of questions that my students may have. As a foreign student I have little knowledge about U.S. history, culture, and tradition. The courses that I have taken enhanced my knowledge and interest about these very subjects.

Life is short and like most people I want to make the best use of it. Being born in a wealthy family and seeing child labor around me, always made me feel guilty. One way to make the best use of my life is to provide assistance towards those unfortunate children of the world who are living in an adverse situations. At the end of my life, I would like to look back and see all the good deeds that I have done. As a human being, I will not live forever but I sure will leave behind some good work.

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