I still felt out of place, but positive changes began to occur as soon as we arrived in our very first home. It was small, certainly not meant for a family of six, but it was something of a home away from home. Times were hard at that time too, my family was not financially secure, my mother worked in a factory. To think that she was a well-paid teacher in her home country, that she loved her job and that she had come across seas just to work in a factory for the sake of her children, still makes me cry . My father, meanwhile, studied day and night for his law exams and my sisters, who were only sixteen at the time, had taken part-time jobs that left them no time for a social life. So many sacrifices made, with so little fruit of the labor in sight. Once again, anxiety hung over my head like a dark cloud that wouldn't go away. On the other hand, the excitement was also there because I was about to start high