Erfan Noorbakhsh Noshahri

My time at NYU Abu Dhabi has given me a life I could never have imagined for myself.

I came here inexperienced, wanting to grow, to explore, and to learn. NYUAD didn’t just deliver on that. It exceeded every expectation I had and then kept going, opening doors to a life I never knew was possible.

This place sent me to the milongas of Argentina, where I learned to tango with strangers who became friends before the song even ended. It put me in the middle of Manhattan at 3am, roaming the streets with people who felt like home. It sent me to the beaches of Miami, where I still failed to get a tan. But most importantly, it introduced me to the love of my life.

These aren’t things you plan for. They are things that happen to you when you put yourself out there, when you surround yourself with people who want to enjoy life the way you do, which sometimes just means munching on a San Francisco from Rashid Ali at 5am.

The person I am today was built here, through the late nights, the hard conversations, the sad goodbyes, the moments of doubt, and the ones of pure, overwhelming joy, and of course, through rigorous games of Avalon with Biggie Cheese watching my every move.

And through all of it, I collected something no degree could ever capture: memories that will never fade, stories I’ll be telling for the rest of my life, and friends who, over four years, quietly and completely became my family.