I am originally from Sochi, Russia. It took a very long time for me to get accustomed. It was so weird here! I’ve been here for about 7 years now. I don’t really like it as much as I do Russia, but the opportunities are great here. I think people are very fortunate to live here. I immigrated because my father wanted to see what it was like and he wanted to get more money. Before I came here, I thought people here were going to be very nice and accepting. I thought school would be challenging. I came here and people were very judgmental and they made fun of me until my accent lightened up a bit. When I began school, it was almost like I was a 12 year old sitting in a kindergarten class. School in the United States is very easy. I graduated from high school very early because of this. Sometimes I feel like a second class citizen because people still think that they need to explain things a lot more for me. It’s quite insulting because my English is very good and I’m not dumb at all. I really wish people were nicer around here!