From the vast land of Aleppo, Syria, junior Dania Mehyo arrived on Jan. 16, 2013 to the United States. However, Dania expresses how her life isn’t meant to be here and that her heart is set on being back in Syria. Hopefully, one day after she has received all her of her desired education here and when the war ends, she will rejoin her friends and family back home.

Dania explains how the decision to move here was not made by the family as a whole, but by her father, who wanted to ensure a safe life and better education for his children. Dania and her family are the only ones who are located in the United States, while the rest of the family is back in Aleppo.

Her life back home, as she describes it, is completely different from here. She says how everything there is cheaper and is provided for you, such as a home, and that everything she wants for herself is back in Syria. Dania also says how she lived next to the mayor in a good section of Aleppo, and explained some of the glorious features of his home.

Dania speaks of another aspect of her home life that differs from the United States, which is education. She says that the school day is shorter, where she would only attend from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. She continues to describe how a set schedule isn’t followed and that everyday is comprised of learning different subjects from the previous day. Dania finds that education is easier here in the United States because of the opportunity to seek additional help when needed from teachers, where that was never offered in Aleppo.

Although Dania hopes that one day she can live back home in her beautiful city of Aleppo, Syria, she has found a great liking in the people she has met that come from different parts of the world. She will also take full advantage of the opportunity of a better education that she hopes to extend into college to help her achieve her goals no matter where she is in the world.