Today, on a cloudy Friday, I celebrate my twentieth birthday in a place that for a long time existed only in my mind.
During quarantine, when I was fifteen, I swore to myself that I would go to the United States to study technology. But as I matured, I began to understand that earning a 100% scholarship at an elite university was something extremely difficult; that receiving financial aid as an international student was extremely rare. Even if I were accepted, my family would not be able to pay even 20% of the annual cost of an American college. Thus, by the end of high school, I was consumed by fear, convinced that I was just a stubborn teenager with a flawed plan. I found myself in constant conflict with the realization that the things I sought might simply be too risky.
And still, something within me kept me devoted to taking on more and more risks. Against all logic, there grew inside me the desire to be irrational, to pursue childish dreams at all costs, and to become antifragile in the midst of my uncertainty.
Today, walking through campus and surrounded by laboratories, auditoriums, and dormitories that feel to me like a gift too generous, I understood that searching within yourself for what makes you cross abysses is the first step toward overcoming any limit imposed by the world. If there is something I seek, it is a "why" to withstand any "how." I remain in disbelief at the magnitude of what has been given to me by this university and by the Behring Foundation, and extremely optimistic about the next five years. Like my father, who left the gaucho countryside to study in the state capital with everything paid for, I now leave my capital to study with everything paid for at one of the twenty best technology universities in the world.
The landscapes around me reflect my persistence and discipline, but also the lessons I received from the people who supported me and inspired me to keep moving forward: my family, friends, and teachers. People who, unfortunately, are not here with me today to see what I achieved with their guidance. That is why I leave these words as a thank-you to each one of them, even if only through a screen. Here is a dream that does not belong to me alone. Thank you!