From Doubt to Possibility

I remember before coming to the UK, a lot of challenges came my way, and I doubted whether this dream was really meant for me. Still, I kept going, every time more tired than before, but something inside me kept pushing me forward. I think of the multiple times Across the Pond helped me — it felt like we were connected, because every time I was about to give up, I'd receive an email from them with useful information, or simply asking how everything was going. I recommended Across the Pond to one of my best friends, because I genuinely found them while navigating the internet, and I feel they were a key piece in helping me get to study my Master's in IT with Cybersecurity at the University of Aberdeen. It was a long process, as I applied to multiple universities while working out my strategy for how I would pay for everything and looking into scholarships. I didn't know much about scholarship options at the time, and Across the Pond guided me through it really well. Thanks to their support, I secured the FIDERH loan and the SECIHTI scholarship to study in the UK.

Once I arrived in Scotland, I remember the first day I got to my student accommodation. My bedsheets hadn't arrived on time, and since I'd arrived a few days early, everything was completely silent. That day was one of the scariest of my life — I was terrified about leaving everything behind and starting from scratch. Even though I had lived in different cities in my country and had spent time abroad in the USA, this felt different, because for the first time in my life, I was truly alone. Looking back, this is something I wish I had known more about before arriving: there were other student accommodation options available, some requiring far less paperwork, that would have made those first few days feel much less overwhelming.

After that, I started my classes, and I remember them being quite challenging at the beginning. In Mexico, classes tend to be structured differently, and the amount of self-study expected here was no joke — it took me a few weeks to adjust. But once I found my rhythm, I really got into the flow of studying, and I found myself researching things even outside the scope of my course, purely out of curiosity to understand how they worked. The programme at my university was genuinely well designed. I hadn't studied IT during my undergraduate degree, but I had developed a passion for it and built my career around it, even though I'd never formally studied much of the underlying theory. This programme helped connect a lot of things from enterprise IT that I hadn't fully understood before, and combined with my chosen specialization — cybersecurity — everything started coming together. I became genuinely passionate about building things, and as part of my dissertation, I built a multi-domain, AI-enhanced application security scanner for the University of Aberdeen.

Around the same time, in November, I found an Automation Developer internship opportunity. I applied and got the job — I remember how happy I was when I received the news, because I had studied so hard for that interview. This was a 9-month placement within the Microsoft development team at the University of Aberdeen, and it truly was an experience that taught me a lot. My goal in coming to the UK was to gain more hands-on technical experience, and I worked alongside colleagues from Scotland, Pakistan, and Russia, which made the experience even richer in terms of culture and different ways of working.

Yesterday was my goodbye party with my girlfriends — women I met from all around the globe: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Spain, Letonia, the USA, and Mexico. That was one of the most precious parts of this whole experience. They helped me understand the world in a completely different way than I could have imagined before, and I feel like I've carried a small piece of each of their mindsets into my own life, shaping how I now see the world.

Today marks one year since I arrived in the UK. Looking back at this whole process — the fear I felt on that first day, the sadness of missing my family — I can't feel anything but happy, proud, and thankful. Thankful for all the opportunities this country gave me, and for everything I learned during those long hours in the library. This experience is one I poured more effort into than anything before it, and that same effort is what continues to push me to keep crossing barriers, reminding me that I can achieve anything I set my mind to. All I needed was hard work, perseverance, and a bit — or perhaps a lot — of life's magic: family who supported me, people I met along the way who became my family too, real opportunities, a country that opened its doors, and, in the end, life aligning itself when you want something so badly you can feel it in your chest.

This experience was priceless, and none of this would have been possible without the help of  Across the Pond, who were there every step of the way, making everything so much easier and more approachable, always guiding me toward my dream.

Thank you for everything, to everyone, and to the world.

- Diana Laura