Meet our Holiday Photo Contest winner: Mariam Geldiashvili
If you follow us on Instagram and Facebook you probably recognize this bubbly face. Meet Mariam Geldiashvili, a winner of the 2016 Greenheart Holiday Volunteer Photo Contest. Mariam is a 17-year-old native of the Republic of Georgia (Sakartvelo). Want to get to know this rock-star Greenheart community member a little better? Read along!
Q: What have you learned through your volunteering experiences in the United States?
A: I participated and became a winner of Greenheart’s Annual Holiday Volunteering Photo Contest in the winter of 2017. I could never imagine that volunteering was such an amazing feeling until I became an exchange student. But, today it is an incredibly important part of my life. One of the biggest benefits of volunteering is the impact on the community. Volunteering allows me to connect to my community and make it a better place. Even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference to the lives of people, animals, and organizations in need. And volunteering is a two-way street: It can benefit you as much as the cause you choose to help. The more we give, the happier we feel. Every thankful smile, every happy and teary eyes, every hopeful light on face of people I volunteered for will stay in my mind forever. For instance, I volunteered in a homeless shelter in November, with the youth group. We gave away little presents and some sweets in the shelter and on the streets, sang songs for them and just made them to smile. These actions did not make these people rich, but I could see they were happy, I could see a little light of hope in their hopeless eyes, and this was the best feeling I have ever felt in my entire life. The world needs more people, who will try to be the change, bring light to each other’s lives, and make the world a better place to live.
Q: How has exchange impacted your worldview?
A: My time as an exchange student has given me opportunities to do and see things I had never dreamed. I gained a perfect second family, new friends and have become a local in another culture. A journey of self-discovery and personal growth filled with unforgettable memories. I have gained more experience, confidence and self-dependence within this year than ever and never regretted anything. I discovered that every moment, every conversation and experience, challenges the way I look at the world. Being a local in a different culture gives me more than just knowledge about another country, its language and culture. A year abroad teaches me about building friendships, taking responsibility, respecting differences and tolerating the beliefs and traditions of others.
Q: What is the strangest part of American culture that you experienced? Maybe even something you think is a little funny. What is your favorite part of American culture?
A: The measurement system in America is very strange, and different compared to Europe. Many times I just can not understand why Americans use miles instead of kilometers, Fahrenheit instead of Celsius and so on. I have always loved animals, but looking at American people and their sweet relationships with animals made me more loving and caring to them. I love American people’s attitude. Everywhere I go, people smile, shake hands, they often say “thank you” and “I’m sorry.” These things can make days of other people happier. But unfortunately, most relationships are not very deep and close between friends and family members as it is in my country, Georgia.
Q: Are there any similarities between American culture and your native culture? What is something you would like us to know about your native culture?
A: Situated at the strategically important crossroads where Europe meets Asia, my country Georgia has a unique and ancient cultural heritage, and is famous for its architecture, art of singing and music, books, rich literature, colorful dances, jewelry, paintings, national clothes and the hospitable Georgian people. From its green valleys spread with vineyards to its old churches and watchtowers perched in fantastic mountain scenery, Georgia (Saqartvelo) is one of the most beautiful countries on earth and a marvelous canvas for walkers, horse riders, cyclists, skiers, rafters and travelers of various interests. Equally special are its proud, high-spirited, cultured people: Georgia claims to be the birthplace of wine, and this is a place where guests are considered blessings, and hospitality is the very important part of Georgian people’s lives.
A deeply complicated history has given Georgia a wonderful heritage of architecture and arts, from cave cities to ancient cathedrals to the inimitable canvases of Pirosmani. Georgia is famous for amazing traditional music and dances. Georgian dancing culture is rich in genres. The national performing style and the traditions were passed from generation to generation and have been in formation for many centuries. A number of folk dance ensembles such as “sukhishvilebi,” “Erisioni,” and “Rustavi” are known all over the world. Georgian dance unites love, courage, and respect for women, toughness, competition, skill, beauty, and colorfulness into one amazing performance.
Q: What advice would you give to others thinking about participating in an exchange program?
A: I highly recommend everybody to become an exchange student. Being an exchange student is an ocean of new experiences and lifelong relationships with your second family, new friends, and other exchange students. “Exchange is not a year in your life, it’s life in one year.” After this year full with amazing moments, you realize that you are a different person, a person with big experiences, unforgettable memories, leadership skills and connections all over the world.
Q: What does being a Global Leader mean to you? And how do you plan on continuing to practice global leadership in your home community? In other words, how do you connect people and planet?
A: I believe, the main thing for becoming a global leader is loving people and the world. I think global leaders are people who can destroy barriers between countries and cultures and make the world a peaceful place to live. I am eager to be one of them, and will use every experience and skill to achieve it. I have many ideas and goals for the future to be the beneficial change of my community and the world. I love seeing smiles on people’s faces, I love seeing different people being united, being connected and being tolerant to each other. I desire to change the preconceptions some nations have about foreign people, my exchange year will be the starting point in my global career. I will be an organizer of many projects, which will work for people to see the world by different ways, and encourage them to become leaders by themselves and a profitable part of our world. I plan to make global projects together, with my American and exchange friends from different countries I made in USA, unite our countries, and to do what is really called connecting people and the world.
And finally, I want to thank the FLEX program and the CCI Greenheart organization for changing my life for the better and giving me unlimited opportunities. No matter who or how I will be in the future, this year will always stay one of the best experiences of my life, full with amazing moments, which made me a more successful, ambitious, caring, and determined person, inspired me with many ideas and plans for the future and gave me noteworthy memories.
Q: Finally, what are you excited to record with your brand new GoPro?
A: With my GoPro I will capture extraordinary moments of my Exchange Year on SD card, as well as in my memory. When this year ends and I am back in my country, I will look at the pictures and the videos of the moments which made me laugh, thrill, cry, smile and gave me a chance to experience many different emotions. I will always remember these times making me proud that I am the one experiencing them.
I am Mariam, an exchange student and part of FLEX and Greenheart big families.
