When I was little, the thought of moving to a new house excited me. That is if it was a couple streets or maybe a town over. But the thought of moving to state scared me and I dreaded it. If I had been presented with the idea of moving to another country as a young kid I'm not quite sure what i would have done, seeing as I plotted for weeks ways just to keep my parents  from moving us to California.  

Today, I live in Saudi Arabia and although I may like it now I wasn't always so fond the idea of coming here.  However I have come to really like it here and learned how the disadvantages of living here have actually provided many advantages, drastically changed my mentality. From the time I learned I was coming to Saudi to now I have grown a lot and I would like to share my mental journey with you.

I would like to start with moment I heard  the possible news of the this big move. There are many ways to tell my story and I think for you to fully understand where I am coming from you should know more about my childhood.

  I lived in Florida until I was about 6, at this time I moved to Colorado where I met friends and began to feel at home, when i moved to California at the age of 13 I was devastated and i couldn't understand how I could “possibly survive this far away from my best friends,“  I was devastated.  Having never left North America, my views on the middle east and especially Saudi Arabia were not exactly accurate, I was to say the least, "uneducated"

I was driving in the car one day after school with my dad when he asked, “how would you like to move to the desert, Saudi Arabia?”

At first I thought this was a joke, “Hahaha, you mean like Aladdin?”  “Don't people there get bombed and live in the sand?”

You could say I was a bit confused, but can you blame me? The only place I got my information was from the media, movies, news etc. I must say I was and am not the only person with this mentality.  My own grandmother almost had a heart attack when she received the news, to this day she is still not convinced we are safe here.

After we were sure about the move I began informing my friends at school, this was not an easy task.  I was expecting certain reactions but I was not prepared for the ones I got.  My dad moved here to Saudi Arabia almost a year before we did so I had to some time to learn more about Saudi, but my friends still only had the mentality I did when I first received the news.

“What?!  Why would you parents go there a risk getting bombed and die? They should just get a divorce it's not worth getting killed!” 

My friend may have not realized this at the time but the only reason I can remember what he said so clearly is because of the effect it had on me.  At this point I realized how little we all knew about the rest of world and how closed minded we were to other cultures.

So yes, I was pretty shocked when I heard the news that I may be moving here, away from the United States, the only thing I had ever known, and it scared me, it scared everyone.  However,  not only did I learn so much about other cultures and religions but I was able to change the mindset of many other people, family and friends. The stories I tell them to about my experiences and opportunities blow them away and I now know how truly lucky I am to be able be here in Saudi and have these experiences.