By M M Nafis Bin Nazrul (YES 2022-2023, Bangladesh, placed by ACES in Winona, MN)

On June 11, 2023, at 3:35 am, we landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. With this, our exchange year officially came to an end.

It feels like yesterday that I was standing in the queue in the passport office, because I didn't even have my passport before applying to the YES program. I remember every step of my YES journey, including all those restless nights, just waiting to hear from the national office about the results of the program. I finally got in, and made it to the United States. Just landing in Washington D.C. felt like every dream that I ever had came true. Then I met my incredible host family.

I cannot describe in words how much I love them and am grateful to God for picking them as my host family. What did they not teach me? Everything from how to wear a seat belt to how to cook Minnesota hot dishes. I got to know one of the most amazing people, my double placement, Alejandro. He became my best friend. He supported me in every step. Bro, I love you.

Then I got to meet some amazing friends at school. The teachers there were so wonderful that it instantly felt like home. I will always cherish my long talks about world problems with Mrs. O’Laughlin, or my career plans with Mr. Charron.

I didn't just make friends from the U.S., I met people from all over the world. I don't even know how I got so close to the Moroccan guy, or how my Indian or Pakistani friends don't seem to be different from me at all. The DCO, the Atlanta trip, CEW, the end of year orientation, or even the smallest trips from my Placement Organization let me make friends from so many different places. Now I can say I have friends from literally more than 50 countries, which I could not even imagine one year ago.

I changed, or should I say, grew a lot this year. I had an emotional roller-coaster. The whole process was not easy. But I learned about so many different aspects of myself in this process that I didn't know even existed. My whole life kind of made sense after this year. Now I can look at the sky on a dark night, and can feel the immense amount of satisfaction that I never felt before.

While writing this, my heart is aching, my eyes are becoming teary, and this whole year is flashing in front of my eyes. YES is the best thing I did in my life. But every good thing has to end one day. I presume the end is what gives that good thing a meaning. YES is also no exception to this.

I am grateful to the Almighty that I took the leap of faith and jumped into the ocean of uncertainty and unknown. If you are also someone who is as nervous about an exchange program as I was, I beg you, please apply. Take my word for this, you will never regret the 30 minutes of your life on a Friday night that you took to explain the exchange program to your parents. I don't.