I was born in Egypt and have lived there for nine years and five months. Just like any country on planet Earth, Egypt has its share of positive and negative characteristics that make it unique from other places. In 2004, my family emigrated to the USA and has been residing in Brooklyn, New York till the present. Like most families who come to America, we were aspiring for a better future, in terms of personal and financial security. My entire family (including myself) faced a plethora of challenges upon arrival to the US.

One of the greatest challenges I faced was learning English and assimilating to American public schools. When I came to the US in the fall of 2004, I entered the fourth grade respectably erudite in math and science. However, I struggled to gain fluency at speaking and writing my new language. I spent seemingly endless days believing that English was unfathomable, cryptic, and impossible to excel in it. The English language stood as a major communication barrier that limited my interaction with individuals of different ethnic backgrounds. With the help of some of my family members and one of my remarkable primary school teachers, I began to notice improvement in my vocabulary that later enhanced my writing and speech skills. One of the fastest ways in which my vocabulary increased was by creating a dictionary that taught me five words per day in the first two years in the country. The dictionary idea was a fast remedy to my language problem, because I wanted to feel like a human with an established sense of identity and a voice worth grasping the attention of others.

Another challenge I faced involved some ill-mannered and recalcitrant students during my first three years (fourth to seventh grade) in the public school system. In primary school, I was often mocked for my inadequacy in English. In the first two years of intermediate school, I was placed in classes where the students did not care about grades nor did they study as much as I. Consequently, I was often vexed for receiving better grades than other students. I managed to survive this environment with patience and wisdom. By my last year of intermediate school, I was in a comfortable learning environment where I shared the same learning desires with most of my classmates. By June preceding my freshman year of high school, I was able to clearly express myself, and, as a result, I entered high school with a great amount of self-confidence.

Another trial I faced after emigrating to the US was witnessing the hardships my parents endured as they searched for suitable jobs in this totally different society. They worked arduously in our first few years to offer me a stable life, one in which learning English and being a smart student was and still is my ultimate goal. I felt it was irrational for my parents to strive to put food on the table, and in return, for me to show them nonchalance. They set a paradigm that involuntarily led me to contemplate on how important responsibility and patience are for one to intellectually and personally develop throughout life. It was only during high school when I learned the many hardships that my family underwent to make living in the U.S. possible. These stories motivated me to stay up to 3:00 am on countless nights in an attempt to exceed the learning standards and to raise the bar. One of the best personal rewards was receiving acceptance letters from reputable educational institutions.

Although, I am thankful for having the privilege to stay in the US during the socioeconomic turmoil in my native land, I often possess nostalgic sentiments to some family members, friends, foods, and the general humorous atmosphere that were unable to follow me to the U.S.