Dear FutureMe,

I really feel horrible these days. It is my first semester in graduate school in US. I have language problems, especially with academic style of talking and writing. It’s a nightmare for me to write a paper or prepare a presentation. It’s a nightmare to read an anthropology book in one day let alone analyzing it. I hate my Women and Development class, as well as its teacher. I feel so weak comparing to other students in the journalism class. I feel I know nothing about feminism in my women’s studies class. I cried in the restroom the other day before my presentation. I feel so scared. I have lost my self confidence. I’m afraid I can’t make it this semester and I have to quit school. Then I will become a housewife which is an equivalent of death for me. I just wish it was easy for me to read and write academic stuff. If I had that ability, life would be much easier. The rest I think I would handle. I hope next year that I receive this email, I have reached the level of competence I need to survive at school. That’s my only wish for this year.

Khorshid