CHICAGO -- A college student who moved from India to Illinois has won $1 million in a scratch-off game.

Asif Kahn, 21, who lives in Chicago suburb Villa Park, bought a ticket for the Illinois Lottery's Gold Bullion game three days before Thanksgiving at a Shell station in Hillside, Ill.

"I just took the ticket and went to my car, and I made a U-turn and went straight back home," Kahn said. "I walked into my house and I said, 'Mom, you're not gonna believe what happened."

He said he plans on using the majority of the money to pay off thousands of dollars in student loans, and then to eventually pay for medical school.

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"I can actually imagine my life ... a better future," Kahn said. "My long-term goal is to be a cardiologist, relating to the heart. Science has always been a very broad field for me and I love it," Kahn said at a Wednesday news conference.

Kahn borrows his mother's 2003 Honda Accord every day to drive from his home to classes at East-West University.

He said his one splurge will be a new Mercedes. He also plans to transfer to University of Illinois at Chicago, now that he can afford the tuition.