Have you ever thought about moving to another country and speaking another language? With a whole different culture and people? Well I did, since I started going to school I have imagined how different my life would be if wasn’t born in Colombia. WAIT! Colombia? Where is that at? Is it like in Africa or something? You might be asking yourself these questions. Well, my dear friend let me tell you that is not in Africa or another place you might think, It is in a wonderful part of the world called south America. Colombia is bordered by the Caribbean sea and the Pacific ocean. Now what is the distance from Colombia to  United states? The air travel (bird fly) is 4,211 km which  is equal to 2,617 miles. Anyways, just a quick summary of the country  for you to understand what I am talking about. 

I am about to tell you my story and experience of how it was for me to move to the United states. I lived in Colombia for  most  of my life with my father, mother and older brother, and I used to stay some nights with my grandma. After some time my parents decided to divorce, so I lived with my mom and brother. Many years later my mom met someone, but he lived in the United States. He asked my mom for her hand in marriage while we still lived in Colombia. We began doing the paperwork so we could come to North America since it was easier for us to come live here than him going to live there. When my mom told me this news I was very excited to visit another country and meet different people, I used to watch those tv channels and movies. In my prayers I asked God to give me the privilege to travel out of the country, while He was working through my mom’s life to give me that desire.

My brother was not able to come but we are hoping and waiting for him to come. After 1 year my mom and I came to the US on  May 10th 2019, it was my first flight outside of the country. It was so exciting when we got to Atlanta airport and I saw all these new people, then we waited for the other plane and came to Lenoir city. When we arrived there my step dad’s family was receiving us with a welcome party and I met all of them. For me it was a dream come true. That night I slept like a baby by the way.

I got here on summer vacation so I was not at school yet and I was glad I did not because I had time to learn some English that was a totally new language for me. I had English classes at my school in Colombia but I didn’t really pay attention because I didn’t consider it important (being lazy), but my step dad was a lot of help for me. After a long summer of meeting new places and eating new American dishes, the time to go to school had come. I was really nervous about how everything was going to be. If people were going to be nice? My English? How was I going to communicate? The list just continues… On August 7th of 2019 I went to visit my school and got

 I met a really nice teacher that was bilingual: she speaks two languages  English and Spanish  (that was one of the best things). She walked me through the hallway while people stared at me, it was funny and also intimidating. Then we went to my classrooms, I had so many emotions that I could not pay attention where the classrooms were located. They gave  me my computer and my school bag, I thought it was super cool and very modern. I had a couple of days out of school and then I went, I remember that day when my mom dropped me off and I went to school. I got so frustrated because I did not know where to go, there were a bunch of students everywhere and I remembered that we had to wait like 20 minutes out before going to class so I standed in one corner and it was very tough because everyone was talking to someone while I was like a mushroom alone then the bells ringed. So what I did was, with my poor English ask a teacher or help on where to find my classroom but I got more lost when he talked to me. Then a  student was walking in the hallway… wait, did I say student? I’ll better say that she was an angel, I asked for help again and said I was new and she said “oh, I can take you there,” I  was so grateful and finally I got to my math class.

 I spent the rest of the day alone and asking everyone for help. Thank God they were very nice to me, but it was a stressful day. I got to my last class and I met my new friends, they were hispanic and I thought it was pretty cool they helped me with my location at school. After some time my English got better and my English teacher helped me a lot too, I learned a lot from her. This year I am a lot more confident with my speaking and vocabulary. I joined the track team (my first time doing a sport), also joined journalism class. That is a whole new experience, I am so excited to learn new things  and help with something for my school. It is so good to put effort in all  things that you do, and work hard for a better future enjoying life and getting out of your comfort zone, to explode  all that potential that we all have inside because we are capable to do many things, this is what helps you progress in life.