My name is Arash and I’m from Iran and I’m
studying Economics and Mathematics.
I’m a Junior here at JMU and I’m happy
to be here.
The reason I picked the United States to study
is because I wanted to have the experience
to study abroad and also I knew that there
are really great universities in the United
States that would provide me with the opportunity
to grow academically.
I would say it was a big difference in the
beginning, it was kind of a cultural shock
to me honestly, especially considering the
fact that I come from an Islamic country and
here is kind of a liberal country, I would
say it was a big change.
I can see myself in the future to be a financial
engineer because that’s the field that I’m
really interested in, financial engineering
or data analytics.
Those are the fields I’m interested in to
pursue in graduate school.
I was a research assistant for a CIS professor
here for one semester.
I was helping her with her research.
It was business analytics research.
A lot of international students they get to
go home but it was not the case for me so
it’s an unbelievably sacrifice coming here,
you never know when you’re going to go home.
Until then, I’m just living in the moment
and enjoying my time here in the United States,
especially in JMU, which is a friendly community.
