Stranger in a Strange World
Tahreem HassanContributorTahreem Hassan is a sophomore foreign exchange student who comes from Pakistan. She has been attending Samo since the beginning of the school year.Life is all about change. Every day we have to face changes in our daily routine. Being an exchange student has been a major change in my life.The exchange student is one who is willing to accept adversity and challenges without his/her own family members, travel to a different place with a diverse group of people and cope with a strange environment. It’s really hard and one needs a plethora of courage and flexibility. I am going through the same process these days. My name is Tahreem Hassan, and I am an exchange student from Pakistan, Karachi. I am living here in Santa Monica, Calif., with a great host family, and I am going to Santa Monica High School. I am here through YES (Youth Exchange and Study Program) sponsored by AFS (American Field Service). AFS programs are spread out with hundreds of fortunate students from different parts of the world coming to the U.S., and a number of students from the U.S. going to different countries.As I mentioned before, I come from Pakistan, a wonderful country with every resource and necessity of life. It is located in the center of the Asian continent, and it is surrounded by four of the most important countries in the world: India, Afghanistan, China and Iran. Pakistan is a land of natural beauty; we have five rivers, mountains, plateaus, valleys and the second highest peak of the world: K2. It is mostly an agricultural country with 50 percent of its economy based on cotton, wheat, rice, maize, tobacco, sugar cane, vegetables and fruits. It produces surplus amount of crops every year that are imported by other countries in Asia. It is a developing country, and a large amount of work is taking place to make it a prosperous land. In fact, there are a number of talented people that will take it to the height of prosperity and development. My homeland is special for every Pakistani because after a long struggle and fight with Britain and India, we won it. Prior to our independence 65 years ago, Pakistan was a part of India until the British took over the sub-continent and ruled for over 100 years. British ruling was based on injustice. There were two important religious groups living in the sub-continent: Muslims and Hindus. Both peoples realized that they wanted their own country and wanted freedom from British slavery. After a long struggle, they got their own countries where they were allowed to follow their rituals and customs. Muslims got their homeland after losing thousands of precious lives. On Aug. 14 Pakistanis celebrate our independence day to remember the sacrifice those before us made.It’s true we are not perfect — we have crime, but crime is in every corner of the world. Criminals are everywhere, but in Pakistan they have more freedom to break the law because Pakistan is not fully developed, and so therefore we don’t yet have a strong backbone. Pakistan is a newly born country. It has just been 65 years since Pakistan got independence, and 65 years is a short time to develop a country. Surely Americans can relate since your country got its freedom from Britain only a little over 200 years ago. But we certainly have strong hearts and minds and a powerful younger generation, like me, that will lead Pakistan.Now that I have shared something about where I come from, I would like to show how my journey has opened up my eyes about where you come from. It has been four months since I moved here and the exchange program has helped me remove misconceptions and learn about this country. In the beginning it was hard to adjust in a new environment with new people. Everything was really different: food, language, dresses, religion and customs, but I love everything that has been a change because as AFS says: “Nothing is better or worse, it’s just different.” I celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas for the first times in my life, and my time celebrating these events was remarkable. Would you believe I left cookies and milk for Santa and he left me a thank you note in my language, Urdu? It was so fun to learn new traditions and to meet new people every day. My family also celebrated my festival “Eid” with me; it was a great time too. It felt good that people are curious about my customs and want to know more about them. I got so much respect and love from the people here, so it just took two or three weeks for me to adjust completely. The hardest part for me was schooling. Schools here are remarkably different from Pakistan. Studies are easier here, but Samo is colossal. In Pakistan I was a student in a private school with only 300 students, and here there are 3,000 students, so it’s a massive difference. In the beginning, making friends was hard, but I am so happy that I made so many friends on the first day of school. Also, things never are stagnant; they always change. So now my life is wonderful. Everything is so different: school, family and friends. Things are just the way I always wanted, a great family and a huge group of loving friends.Although I miss my country, Pakistan, and family sometimes, I know I will never get this unique experience again, so I am making the most of it. Even though there’s so much diversity here in Santa Monica, I still believe that teenagers here should take part in exchange programs so like me they can open their eyes to a whole new world and hopefully create future leaders who are committed to world peace. eic@thesamohi.com