I am not an American.

I was born in Russia and lived there until the age of 15. Because of certain circumstances, very soon after my 15th birthday I had to move to the States all by myself to go to school here. I wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but it had to happen. And now, after seven years, I see that I would never want to change anything that has brought me here. People ask me where I want to live after college, and I used to say that I don't know. But lately I have started to say, "Here. In America."

I don't have a citizenship or a green card, and for now I am only here "temporarily," as an international student. I certainly hope to make America my permanent home, and it's something I'm working on during this last year of college while exploring my career opportunities. I work hard and I try to do the best I can to someday become a useful and valuable addition to this country.

Right now I feel like America, the Pacific Northwest, lovely Seattle and rainy Portland, my little college town of Walla Walla are all my home. Seven years is a long time when you're only 22 - it's a third of our your whole life. And these past seven years have been some of the most substantial and important years of my life. But I feel like Russia and Eastern Europe, where my family lives, are also my home. It's where I started. There, I find my roots and listen to my language and the music of my heart. I still cry every time I am driving back home from the airport and see a wide open green valley and the delicate birch trees, so symbolic of a Russian soul, gently swaying along the highway - they just hurt my heart because they are so beautiful.

However, a place so beautiful can be corrupt and just not good to live in. I am often asked how come I left my home and came here, to this country with foreign concepts and a foreign language - a question that is often asked of immigrants.

Dear Americans, I want you to understand that people want to come to your country because it is truly a great country. It does not need to be made great again. It is great. Yes, there are flaws, and debt, and shootings, and sexism, and racism, and inequality. But I can guarantee you that the amount of those evils that you face here in your country is incomparable to what people are facing in other countries, their home countries, the places where their hearts belong. And after some time, they come to realize that they just can't grow, work, raise families, achieve their goals and make their dreams come true unless they leave and go to a better place. They love their home countries. But they just have to go because even the places you love can be poison for your future.

You are gifted a gift of being a citizen of a place where life is to be lived, not survived. You have opportunities that so many people would give up everything to have. You have freedoms to say what you want to say, be whoever you want to be and believe whatever you want to believe - something people give their lives for in other places. America is truly the land of the free and the home of the brave, even the ones who weren't born here.

Please, cherish that. Vote. Work hard. Pay your taxes. Recycle. Be a good citizen. Enjoy your life here. Please, take advantage of your American passport and travel the world! See the world and understand why your home is an amazing place to be. Take care of your country. Understand that you can't take it for granted - it is too great of a place.