Ten minutes until departure I could feel my heart beating harder and harder. I was sweating, running, and trying to find the gate. There it was! I ran the last fifty feet to hand my boarding pass to the ramp agent. Thank God. I arrived three minutes before departure time and I was on my way to El Paso, Texas.

The previous year, my brother had left home to study abroad. Perhaps seeing my desire for even more freedom, my parents suggested I apply to the exchange student program. I agreed and applied, thinking it would be a really good experience. Learning different cultures and knowing people from many different countries would surely help to understand both myself and others. Therefore, the spring and summer of 2005 were especially busy. Only a few days before my departure date, I received notification of my school and my host family’s information. I was curious and excited, but nervous at the same time.
        
While packing my suitcase the night before my departure, I suddenly realized my fear of the new challenge I was about to face. The next morning at the airport, my mom and I both tried not to cry. In a bittersweet gesture, she held my hand and said, “This time next year I want you to be stronger and to have a brighter future in front of you.” I smiled and took my step towards the gate; I did not look back. I was sure I would miss my past, but my future was more inspiring to me. It was the first time I would travel by myself; it was also my first time on a plane. After sixteen long hours in flight, I landed in El Paso, Texas.
        
While living with the host family, there were many barriers I had to overcome. Nevertheless, with each obstacle I overcame came increased appreciation for my family’s love and care and with that appreciation came a restless homesickness. The first two months were like an unending, dark night. At that time, I was not fluent in English, which essentially struck me deaf and dumb for the first month. It was very hard for a girl who loves to talk and listen to others! To make matters worse, I could not completely understand the lectures given in my classes. During these troubled times, the dictionary became my best friend. At night before a test, I would have to study until the early morning.
        
Seeing the diversity of people at school was both exciting and thrilling; everything I saw was strange and new. For the first few months, I was not familiar with cultural practices, but as I became accustomed to the school and people, I began to notice that during lunch, certain people would sit at a certain tables. White people would sit at the tables near the east entrance, and black people would sit on the other side. Nowadays, people say that segregation has ended; people are equal and they think of each other as companions. However, an invisible wall seems to exist between races.
        
These walls not only apply to different races, but also to religion, gender, age, and social and political groups. People still have prejudices towards one another. In my opinion, with the exception of an ignorant few who are still prejudice at heart, most of the groups separate themselves and affiliate themselves with those similar to them due to a “comfort factor.” People of the same race, religion, or age may have more things in common and may simply feel more comfortable with people of the same group. However, this comfort seems to be a result of underlying prejudices that still exist today. Clearly, everything cannot be perfect or the way I wanted to be. The best I could do was trying to understand others and overcome the prejudice.