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Name: Emilia

Three words to describe yourself: Romanian, funny, caring

Emilia is a native of Snellville, GA but is originally from Fagras, Romania. Her family moved to the United States when she was seven years old "for better opportunities," but she goes back every summer to visit her extended family. She liked growing up in Romania because "children have more of a childhood instead of being obsessed with television". One of the biggest culture shocks of coming to the U.S. was the dependence Americans have on cars as means of transportation because in Romania, they rely more on walking from destination to destination. English was not Emilia's first language, so it was difficult for her to learn it: "I remember crying . . . it was hard to adapt . . . I missed my friends". Describing the cultural differences between Romania and the U.S., she says that Americans "are nicer . . . and more open-minded". Emilia is studying International Affairs and would like to eventually become either a U.S. or Romanian diplomat (but preferably a U.S. one). She says, "it would be nice to represent a country and to try and solve problems between countries," and wants to "give back to the community . . . even if you change one person's life for the better, it's a domino effect". In high school, she was a member of the varsity soccer team. Eventually, Emilia would like to travel to Barcelona, Spain and China. She has been to Spain before and says "it's an amazing country with nice people and a beautiful language". She wants to go to China because the culture is very unique and "the more places you visit, the more you can realize how other people think".