Language Arts 8L
Ms. Rowley
2nd Draft
Home Is Where The Heart Is
“Home is where the heart lies,” said Pliny the Elder long ago. But back when I was in elementary school, I didn’t grasp this notion that home didn’t necessarily have to be where you had lived all your life so far. The idea of moving had never crossed my mind. Sure, I knew people who’d moved, and heard stories about it in the media, but the idea of packing up all your belongings and moving to a whole different place just seemed so…huge; bigger than I could comprehend; too big to even worry if it would happen to me. So I guess that’s why I was completely speechless when my dad told me we would be moving to China.
School in America wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the high life, either. I had a decent amount of friends and fit into many different friend groups, but I guess I still came off as somewhat nerdy. Nowhere near popular girl material. In a room full of people, I was definitely not the one known to be outgoing. I’d always thought of myself as a true American at heart, but the year before we moved, …show more content…
I made many friends, including some native Chinese speakers. I hadn’t fully transformed into a whole different person, but I began to understand the Chinese culture more. Instead of seeing the horrid, polluted country that I had been forced to move to, I saw the true wonder of it that had persuaded my parents to move. China offered me many opportunities that I wouldn’t even have had the chance to be a part of in America. It was my shining gateway to a new and improved life. At school, I learned how to become a confident speaker, a strong leader, and the organizer of events and fund-raisers. I was given the chance to step up and take charge more than once, and by the end of 7th grade, I had written two complete novels and won several awards. It was almost too good to be true. If I had stayed in America, I never would’ve had all these