I believe I am a very lucky person. As soon as I finished eighth grade in my home country of Vietnam, my parents gave me the opportunity to study abroad in America and that was probably one of the best things that happened in my life. I started as an exchange student and chose to study in Florida, the sunshine state, because a generous American host family adopted me as their host child. The moment I started my study trip in America, I was immediately fascinated by how the education system works in the United States. Everything is very informative and based on practical things instead of just words written in books. I got to do lots of fun experiments in the chemistry lab and several engaging debates about history. All the teachers at my high school were super friendly and were really enthusiastic when I asked them a question and always did their best to make me understand despite the language barrier. Thanks to them, I started to really enjoy studying in the United States and made some good friends during my high school days in Florida. I received a 4.0 GPA my freshman year at Imagine High School in North Port and managed to get A(s) in all of my AP classes. I was Student of the Month twice in high school and honored to receive Volunteer of the Month at the homeless shelter in North Port, Florida. I also managed to stay in touch with many teachers at my high school when I left, and they still send me notes about how other international students remind them of me. However, since my high school only provided the K-11 system when I was there, I have to transfer to another school to continue my studies and that's when I moved to Washington State. Moving was scary at first because it was the first time I lived without any assistance from family... middle of paper... taught me so many important things I need to live and study in America .Al moment, I'm taking a break from school and doing OPT (optional practical training) to get more real world experience. I've gotten to meet so many people from the jobs I do and I'm happy I made this decision. Nonetheless, college is still a really important issue that I need to focus on, and the University of Washington (UW) has been one of my favorite schools since I moved to the United States. At first it was just because the campus is beautiful, then I met a lot of great people at UW and they told me a lot of good things about the school, like how great the professors are, how well equipped the library is, etc. That's why I'm immediately applying to college because I really want to join the university that has trained all these wonderful people I've met..