We were all moving with my father to the United States. It was whole new world for me coming from a rural town into a big city. However, things felt more difficult than before. In school, I had to learn a completely new language and catch up to the current curriculum the other children were learning. I became self-taught, as my mother could not help me because she knew less English than me and the school had no special program for new arrivals like they do now. We could not even consider getting a private tutor because with the income we had, we were barely making ends meet. I knew all I had was myself and I had to mature and become independent quickly at such a young