I knew that the rest of my life was going to be different, that this was a turning point.

My name is Anna Traversa.

I'm originally from Argentina, and I have now lived in the United States for close to 11 years.

My parents were 40 when I was born, and I was an only child.

My mother was a house maker and my father was a carpenter, So everything about me was making me independent as soon as possible.

I learned to read and write when I was two or three years old.

Uh, everything was about having a successful school experience that would lead to a job a soon as possible.

There were not many books at home, and I grabbed every book I could wherever I could, And I just, you know, got change in my pocket.

And I got used books in English, reading about everything and anything on day that opens up the world.

In a sense, at least in your head.

I had an opportunity.

I was 26 at the time to have six weeks in Massachusetts on an exchange program.

I came to U Mass.

Amherst, the very first day I arrived at the university.

Uh, you know, somebody was walking me around and said, And that's our library.

And it was a 26 story building.

And that, to me, was unthinkable that there would be a library that had over four million books.

I had access to any knowledge that I wanted, and my mind just exploded.

I was sharing classes with people who could talk.

I mean, this was literature, right?

But they could talk about politics, philosophy, history, science.

They had a background in absolutely everything.

This was a whole different world, and I wanted to belong in this world.

And the very last day I was there, three office of international Students asked me to come over and said, If you ever want to pursue a master's degree, you will have a full waiver of tuition from U Mass.

Let's put it this way.

I did not exactly get their support.

Um, it was unthinkable to them that, you know, once I was already teaching at the university, I had a secure job.

I had been studying pretty much all my life.

I wanted to study more.

I wanted to continue studying and away from the family.

Why?

So I had that to deal with.

I knew what I wanted.

I knew that the rest of my life was going to be different, that this was a turning point.

That it was a turning point I was choosing.

And I took my path in the hope that one day they would understand eso by the end of that year.

I'm talking about 90 90 and I was actually I found out once.

I was at, um, s as a graduate student that I was the first ever Latin American student in the English program at, um S.

And then, of course, I ended up, uh, writing the test.

Once I came to the United States to work for E T s eso everything comes full circle, right?

My name is Anna Traversa.

I'm originally from Argentina, and I'm a Tofel success story.