Many students from other countries always have a reason to come to the U.S. It could’ve been for a better life, a better future, or just a want to start anew. But unlike them, one freshman- Serafima Chebotareva had come here with her family with barely any plans to even come here in the first place. Serafima was born in “…Russia and had lived there for 11 years.” She lived in a city called “Sterlitamak” which is one of Russia’s largest cities; Serafima lived there for 11 years and has never moved, despite it being a “…hard place to there because of the location of my house.” She most likely had lived on the outskirts of the city and it could’ve possibly been hard to find some places near to her or within walking distance. Despite loving her home country- Russia, her parents decided to move “…to the United States spontaneously, we did not plan to move here, we just went here for travel.” Serafima and her family then moved to the United States, with her parents liking the idea “…for me and my sister it was unfamiliar. It felt strange to me for the first time.” This led to a culture shock between the two as how she saw “…the people’s behavior and a lot of people with different nationalities that was pretty cool.” They were flabbergasted at the fact that everyone spoke different languages and looked different, it also led them to see what America offers and find out the various stereotypes many countries had thought about us. Coming to Florida, Serafima already can easily speak “…English and Russian, I also speak German, but I am still learning it.” As she is one of the only ones that can speak English really well than the rest of her family, she is mainly the translator for them, and just after “…living in the United States for 3 years,” Serafima had mastered the English language which allowed her to be successful at school. She had also enjoyed her time here in the U.S as she loved “…going to the beaches… the freedom… going on trips with family;” This allowed Serafima to be able to know what it’s like to be an American living in a foreign land. After coming to Sunlake she also joined the band program and enjoyed “…[going] on mini field trips for band,” which allowed her to explore much more of the places here in Florida and be able to do her favorite thing which is doing music! Moving here to Florida from Russia led Serafima to an exciting experience as she learns more about America’s culture and ways of living. This sums up, freshman Serafima Chebotareva’s life coming from the other side of the world.