Razan Alaqeel's

The fourth period of pre-calculus seemed very long as we tried to simplify exponents, and turn the negative signs to positive just by changing the place of the number. That reminded me of the same things with us; humans.  Whenever we feel negative, or try to step back from the verge of failure, we try to change our place to maybe have a greater change in life through a path of new things.  When we change the place and sign of a number, we end up influencing the whole result of the final outcome of the equation, which is basically: the answer.  A human being has all the power to change something if he focuses on a certain goal, and work.  I left the class after ninety minutes of solving equations and changing the place of certain numbers, and I walked to try a new thing, something that I've never experienced before: riding an American School Yellow Bus! The Saudi hot weather is still following me to North Carolina, so the temperature was very high while th...

The sun was still blurred by many clouds as I left the house for my first day as a Senior. The weather was a bit cold, and some rain drops were falling to unleash new stories for a new day.  The green color of the mountains made me happy to be here as we crossed the roads.  Marion itself looked so beautiful as I've never seen it before this early.  I was nervous, and my nerves were very obvious on me. Yet, all of this beauty that surrounded me made me feel good, as if the nature was hugging me for the first time ever on a first day of school, and telling me "Everything will be fine.".  I myself was telling myself that I traveled half way around the world for this particular reason: to go to school, learn new things, and maybe teach others about my country and culture through the process of learning.  This time, after twelve long years, it wasn't a driver dropping me on the school's big blue gates. It was my host mom (Tracey).  There weren't any ...

Since my arrival to the US, I've been comparing myself to a drop of water that was moved from the Arabian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean. I am this little drop, and the gulf is pretty small when we compare it to an ocean.  بدأت بتشبيه نفسي بقطرة ماء نُقلت من الخليج العربي للمحيط الأطلسي منذ وصولي للولايات المتحدة. أنا قطرة ماء صغيرة، و الخليج صغير جداً عندما نقارنه بمحيط. When I was in the 7th grade I remember a lesson about adaptation, and the metaphor that was used was a camel which is basically something very familiar to our culture.  A camel will never be able to survive outside his environment which is the desert, but it will always have the strength to keep on fighting its thirst until the last breath. I'm not sure if this is the same thing with a water drop, because it was moved to another world, but in the same time, the new world was still part of its nature.  عندما كنت في الصف السابع (الأول المتوسط) أتذكر درساً عن التكيف، و الإستعارة المستخدمة في ا...

                                 العاشر من أغسطس ٢٠١٤. صباح اليوم الموعود، اليوم الذي أسافر فيه، و اليوم الذي أحقق فيه حلمي.  صحيت من النوم، و بسرعة البرق بينما كان الوقت يمضي ببطئ، كنا في السيارة في طريقنا لنأخذ لطيفة من عملها لكي تودعني مع الجميع في المطار. يا إلهي، يا له من شيء عظيم، لطيفة تترك عملها من أجلي. و لكن بعد التفكير، لن تراني لسنة لذا يستحق الأمر.  10th of August, 2014. The morning of the awaited day, the day that I travel in, and the day that turns my dream into reality.  I woke up, and with the speed of lightening while the time was passing so slow, we were ready in the car on our way to pick Latifa (my sister) up from work so she would hug me goodbye with everyone at the airport.  Oh god, what a great thing it is, Latifa leaves her work for me.  But after thinking about it, she won't see me for a year, so it's defiantly worth it.  عبرنا ال...

                                  كان صباح اليوم السابق لسفري. كانت مشاعري فارغة جداً، لم أشعر بشيء.  أمي حرصت أن يكون الغداء تماماً كما أحب. صحن خضار مليء بالربيان. شوربة كريمية بالربيان. و لحسن الحظ شيء جديد: سمبوسة ربيان. كان الغداء الوداعي مع أهلي، و شعرت بكثير من الحب.  بعد الغداء مباشرة ذهبت مع لطيفة و عائشة لتوديع أفراد عائلتي. بدأنأ الجولة، و قد إحتوت على الكثير من الدموع، لكن ليس مني، بل من أهلي. حقاً لا أعلم كيف كنت أشعر وقتها، كل شيء بدى لي غريب جداً، و لكن طاقة الحب كانت عالية جداً.  الجميع عبر لي عن مدى فخرهم بما سوف أفعله غداً. الجميع بمعنى أقل: كان سعيد لي.   عدنا إلى البيت في تمام الساعة الحادية عشر، و بدأت بترتيب ملابسي فوراً. أمي فعلت كل شيء من الألف إلى الياء، و أنا جلست على سريري أحدق عليهم جميعهم، أردت أن أتذكر تلك اللحظة، أردت أن أبتسم حين أتذكرها. أردت أن أحمد الله لاحقاً و دائماً على ذلك اليوم.  نمت كالعادة مع عائشة، صديقة النوم و الغرف...