USTL provides full scholarships to outstanding students from Timor-Leste for two to four years of study at high-quality undergraduate degree institutions in the United States. Scholarship awards include full tuition toward either a bachelor’s degree or associate degree, travel, living stipends, medical insurance in the U.S., and visa costs. USTL is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), U.S. Department of State.

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Being a student in such a diverse environment, I am fed with a lot of knowledge from different perspectives that taught me to appreciate cultures and people, regardless of their backgrounds and origins. As one of the biggest public institutions in the United States, University of Minnesota offers numerous opportunities that are doing the best job at making international students feel welcoming and accommodating. Programs I have involved so far were International Buddies Program (IBP), Small World Coffee Hour (SWCH), and Forestry Club. Two of these programs (SWCH and IBP) allowed me to interact more with people of other countries, which I also had the opportunity to share about Timor-Leste. As an environmental science and forestry major, I am a person who truly appreciates nature and prefer to be a part of it whenever I have the margin to escape from the Twin Cities (Minneapolis / St. Paul). After the Cloquet Forestry Center Field Session, which I had to take class in open nature, my intimacy with the environment has increasingly stronger, and moreover, my friendship with individuals in the major has correspondently spirited. I am currently involved in Forestry Club, and we went to Bear Head Lake for a camping trip, and we have done a lot of other activities like tree climbing, timber sports, and many other field trips like Wood Rill in Wayzata, MN. University’s environment offers a calming nuance, and my professors have been so kind and truly supportive towards preparing me for my future career as the end of my degrees draws near.

All classes that I take are my favorites, because they all offer a healthy learning environment in which students are always interacting with each other. The capstone for my Environmental Science, Policy and Management major has been the most challenging, yet encouraging and stimulating, because it is a chance for me to apply all knowledge I have acquired throughout my journey, here. In this capstone class, I have to do a community project that, we, a group of 5 have to conduct a feasibility study for establishing organics recycling program for the city of Roseville, Minnesota. As it enlightens my views towards organics recycling, it teaches me something that can be referenced for my future career when I have to create a plan that fits every aspect of community’s necessities. Overcoming the obstacles in this project, require compassion, great communication skills, enthusiasm, professionalism, dedication, and creativity. Some of these skills gained on the way of this study, while others have been the values in me throughout years. However, the point of all of these, is, what makes going to college challenging, and yet, a great opportunity for obtaining a lot of propelling experiences.

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