CYMA provided me with an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of mine: to travel to my motherland, Armenia. The trip began at LAX airport where the CYMA group came together to achieve the collective goal of exploring our country’s culture and history. Upon landing in Armenia, I instantly felt immersed in the Armenian culture; everywhere I looked I saw Armenian people, everything I read or heard was in Armenian. A smile crept across my mouth for I knew I was truly in Armenia.

Our primary lodging was a house in Yerevan that CYMA had arranged to rent. It was a lovely location, only a 5-minute walk away from the Opera House, so we were really in the center of the action. Within the first few days of being there, we had already seen so many picturesque historical sites such as Khor Virap, Geghard and Erebuni, that I knew my journey was only beginning. In the meantime, our group was steadily evolving into a tight-knit family with each passing day. Whether it was trading turns making breakfast in the mornings or simply sharing the happiness of being in the same incredible place at the same time, we were building the foundations of lifelong friendships.

It was after the second week where the trip took a definite turn for me. I started thinking in Armenian, something that I had never experienced before but welcomed all the same. By this point I knew my way around the city, had made friends with the staff at numerous restaurants and cafés and was really beginning to feel like a true Armenian. I lost count of how many times I mentally thanked my mother for teaching me Armenian as a child because I was able to converse with anyone with ease. That said, knowing how to speak the language was definitely beneficial but not crucial; those that didn’t in our group quickly learned the basics and by the end could speak Armenian better than they had ever imagined possible within a month.

We continued travelling to legendary places such as Lake Sevan, Karabakh and most memorably Gyumri, which was the location of our week-long service project. We met the youth group of Gyumri and with them, undertook the humanitarian project of demolishing an underprivileged families’ house and funding the reconstruction of it. It was hard work but very rewarding at the end of each day. Most importantly, the friendships and experiences we shared with them I will remember for the rest of my life.

The closer we got to the end of our trip the more we yearned to stay, for that is the effect Armenia has on a Diasporan. We spent our last few days in Yerevan cherishing the loving relationship our CYMA group had created. I truly loved it all – the art, the culture, the people and the history. I later reflected how the history in America only goes back a few hundred years, which had always seemed such a long time. Yet in Armenia, it goes back several thousand years and there is a difference that one feels there, right down to their very bones. And since the conclusion of our memorable CYMA trip, it’s precisely this difference that makes me think of our wonderful homeland each and every day.

Robert Petrossian

CYMA 2009 Participant