I decided to move to boarding school because living in Saudi Arabia all my life, I was craving something new, something that would help mold me into to the person I wanted to become. I wanted to become independent, lead my own life, stop letting other people influence my choices, and just try to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Its not that I didn’t love my old school, I just wanted the experience of another life. So, I moved to Singapore. The school I went to was a really famous school, and very tough to get into. It held tons of possibilities for me and was so diverse, I thought it would be perfect for me.

I remember walking into the boarding house on the first day. I looked around, and everywhere I looked I thought, “This is it. This is what I’m going to wake up to every single day for the next 3 years”  “These are the walls I’m going to pass by everyday”, or even “Soon I might be best friends with that girl over there”. What annoyed me the most that day was the weather, because it was hot and humid, which was terrible for me because it would make my hair frizz up and I’d end up looking like a golliwog.

But after all the small chitchat and the tedious icebreakers, eventually I got settled in, found my group of friends. At first I was best friends with my roommate. Big mistake. It wasn’t that she was a horrible person or anything, it was just that if you see that person every single minute of the day, you have school with them and then you come back and share a room with them, you get a little tired and annoyed with them after a while, and if you ever got in a fight, it just would be a very uncomfortable situation. So, we eventually grew apart as friends, but became closer as roommates. My second group of friends were fun, but would do nothing but gossip, even about their own friends. Surprisingly I stuck with them for a couple of weeks, I even tried to fit in with them by gossiping with them. I said things that I wish I could take back, and looking back, I am so distraught at the fact that I didn’t back out right then and there, when I realized what was going on. Eventually I had made a good group of friends.

I was disappointed in the school and it seemed like it wasn’t the place for me. It didn’t offer as much as I thought and instead of building myself up to be stronger and more independent, I found myself changing into a person I didn’t like at all. I was more irritable, unsociable and I felt I was losing the parts of me that cared. I guess this was because although I was having fun, I didn’t stand out.  I stood out in my old school because I spoke 3 languages and played 4 instruments, I was a straight A student and I loved to draw, but over there everyone did everything I did but did it better. I felt demotivated, so I decided to return. I’m proud of myself for making that decision because even though people will judge me for ‘not sticking it out’ or ‘not being able to handle boarding’ I know that I did grow thicker skin and I have changed and become even more determined to be kind, and strong and hard-working person that I am right now, and I don’t need anyone else’s opinion to know that I made the choice that was best for me.