BY Priscilla Hernandez, a Mexican Immigrant An ideal homeplace would be a place where you feel happy, where you feel at home. It’s where you want to live your life and know it’s safe, where you can be yourself and know that you are happy with who you are and with what you have. A place where racism, violence, discrimination isn’t a factor, and you won’t feel that people don’t care about you or that they wish you bad. My name is Priscila and it’s been 5 years since I moved to U.S.A from Mexico where I was born. My parents brought me and my siblings to the U.S. for a better life. What I meant by that is for a better education, and a life where we can be safe and happy. The life in Mexico is different than the life in here. For example, the education there is different, the school there uses less technology and more books which in my opinion are better because sometimes technology can be a distraction for students and if the students use them too much, they will pay less attention to class. In this way the students there can’t use the technology that much, which makes them pay attention to class and do their assignments faster. The lifestyle as a teenager can also be different. Where I used to live is a state called Durango, there is a tranquil state and the towns around it are small and tranquil. The town where I used to live is not as large as a city. For example, it doesn’t have a lot of cars, buildings or large parks like Disney land or museums, but it does have parks and other fun places for teenagers and there are a lot of mountains and rivers where you can go and have fun. I remember one time when I was about 11 years old, I went camping with my family and cousins to a place called La Presa, which is called that because there is a dam there. When it’s summer, we all go there and we take food, and things to play like volleyball or fishing rod to catch fish and clothes you can use to go swimming. You feel free when you live there. As teenagers their life is enjoyable because teens have freedom and it’s not like if they go out something could happen to them. As soon as I moved to the U.S. my life changed completely in a way I couldn’t imagine, here the education is different like schools here use a lot of technology in classrooms and that was new for me. Something else is that life as a teenager is harder because you can’t go out and be free as you can be there. For example, here you can go out and have fun but at the same time you are afraid that something would happen to you or to your friends, like you can get into a fight and afraid that someone could pull out a gun or that you can get into a car accident because someone didn’t stop at the stop signs. At Durango these types of experiences don’t happen like in here it’s weird when something like car accident or a shooting happen because usually this type of staff doesn’t happen there, it’s more tranquil over there. To be honest I still miss the place where I grew up and the people I grew up with and I will never forget all the moments I had there. Although this was a massive change in my life, I know my parents did it, so that my siblings and I have a better future and I am grateful for that and now I want to make my parents