The moment I remember the most is when I moved from Europe to the United States. The reason I remember this is because I lived in Europe most of my life. I was born in Virginia then moved to Alaska, Iceland, England, Germany, and then here, Ohio. The amount of time spent in the U.S. was very small, so I barely remember it. Which kind of stinks, because I wish I would have remembered where I was born.

The excitement and shyness exploded out of me-but I knew I would be fine in the end. I’ve always pondered what it would have been like in the United States. From my knowledge then to what it is now has changed significantly. Among the hundreds of different types of restaurants or different things they would advertise on the TV were very unique from what they advertised in Europe. I thought advertisements wouldn’t show such explicit items on television. The different explicit items would be anything from personal hygiene-all the way to sex products.

The things that were weird or different from Europe were the amount of channels that were available, our television in Germany only had about ten channels. We had this thing called AFN (American family network) that we would watch. Another very different thing was the amount of shopping malls that you would find. When we first drove past Bridgewater, I thought to myself “how will I ever explore all of the different stores”. Now that all the stores have been explored it seemed like there was nothing to do anymore. Once you get that feeling of “oh there’s nothing to do” you kind of get in a sense of panic. That feeling of being panicked comes from being stationary for too long, but you get used to it. Even though I have been most places people can only dream about I felt that the United States had a whole new vibe to it. The reason I felt that way was because Europe felt more like home to me. The customs were very much alike from place to place you would go. The military brat feel is probably what I liked about moving around so much. Everywhere you go there would be another military brat that you could share your stories with, so you never felt alone.  The overall feeling from base to base was the feeling that I liked. Since I moved around a lot, it didn’t faze me when I would go to a new school. Every 4 years I would move and make new friends, so I didn’t get attached. I very much remember the days before the bus came to take us off to school. We would stop at the corner bakery right next to our bust stop and get doughnuts. The best thing about that was that the doughnuts were only ten euro cents. My brothers and I would also happily skateboard down to the local skate park and hang out with the German kids. Europe was the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m glad that I had the chance to have been a part of multiple cultures and experience them first hand. There have been so many iconic landmarks that I had the chance to see such as: Stonehenge, big ben, the London eye, the London bridge, the berlin wall, visited a concentration camp called Dachau, mount Rushmore, been past the arctic circle, all the monuments in Washington D.C., rode the Chunnel (connects England and France). To think that I am only fifteen and seen that many landmarks is unreal. I am thankful for my dad being in the military. For giving me a chance to see all these places but also to give me discipline, respect, and a sense of being.

Upon arrival there were hundreds of new things that were new to me. Some of those include: Wal-Mart, basically all restaurants (except major food companies i.e. McDonalds etc.), basically all clothing lines (except H&M). I could go for years, but I guess you get the point. I also got to meet some cool people coming here. I am thankful for being able to visit Europe, it will always hold a place in my life. I miss Europe so much but when I’m older and join the military the world will be my playground.

Ohio has shown me the good and the bad that can go on in a daily basis. The friends and people that I have met will forever make an impression on who I am today. Throughout this passage I expressed in many different way the theme of my story which is change is fun. I am very grateful for the experiences that I have had throughout my fifteen years of living all over the world. Those experiences can’t be traded for a million dollars and I hope everyone has the chance to capture to beauty of Europe. Though bad things might be going on today there, no amount of destruction can take that away.