She was pouting in the car. With her movie player in her hands, Nadine and her family was off to the airport. The Egyptian by blood 10-year-old born and raised in Texas, was headed somewhere new for the first time in her life.

They were moving to Dubai. “It’s a great city where you will fit in and be taught more about your culture” her parents said.

She wasn’t buying it. Little did she know, she would feel a happiness that she never knew before.

The plane lands, and she’s not impressed.

The first day of school came quickly. The school was pouring with different skin tones, hair types, eye colors, and languages.

People all around her spoke Arabic. Nadine had no idea that there were so many people that were like her in the world.

Three years pass as she gets accustomed to her new life she discovers that she can lead a life that doesn’t include worrying about fitting into an All American society. Eighth grade. She moved to a new school. At the start of her move she was anxious; she didn’t want to abandon the comfort she made for herself.

She again, found herself in a whirlpool of diversity where she made her first genuine best friend. Nadine only got to spend two years with her best friend.

She was to be torn away from the one person she enjoyed talking to freely. She had to go back to the first school she was in. She was heartbroken.

Sophomore year.

She started the year with a crummy nostalgia that choked her. Days passed. She met someone that changed her life. They became instant best friends and for some reason, Nadine poured her heart out. Trust, loyalty, laughter, and dependence filled her with comfort and happiness. Looking at them from afar, they looked like complete opposites, but they shared the same values and passions. They would talk for hours on end without running out of topics or questions to ask.

All was well until her parents told her that they had to move back to America. Nadine was distraught. America held no happiness for her and she had just found her home. Her real home did not involve an All-American society and didn’t involve the effort to fit in.

Today, she lives with no sense of a real home. She had realized that home is where one is surrounded with love and acceptance. She had found that, but now all she has is work and the hope that she can find a new home.