I am Genesis Merino, I am 18 years old, I currently live in the city of
Lynn, Massachusetts, I work in a typical food restaurant here in Lynn,
and I also study at Lynn Classical High School. I am in grade 11. I had
the opportunity to be born in this beautiful country, but also to travel back
to the beautiful country of El Salvador. When I was barely a month old, my
mother had to return to El Salvador. Since she was a teacher (kindergarten
teacher) she had to return to her life, to her job as a teacher, and I couldn't
stay here alone.

I arrived in the beautiful country of El Salvador (I say beautiful because I am
truly very happy to have grown up there), when I was 6 years old. I traveled
with my mother. She said to me, “This is going to be your country for a very
short time.” In truth, I did not believe her, I thought it was a joke. Because
I was little, I didn't understand things very well. As I grew up, I understood
that I had to come to the United States to study, learn English, and get my
high school diploma. In order to do this, I had to get away from my mother and from my brother. They are the people I love most in this world. When I
turned 15 I had my 15th party, it was very beautiful. Then my 16th birthday
arrived and I had to come to the United States to study. So, I traveled for
the first time alone to a totally unknown, different country with a different
language and with the few people that I know or rather that I half know...

Getting here has been difficult because I have had to be alone for the first
time. I know that it is very difficult for everyone. Arriving in the United States
has been something very different, very strange, but at the same time I feel
that it has been something good. On my 16th birthday I had to make the
decision to travel and stay once and for all to live here in the United States because I was studying in El Salvador from my first year until grade 9 every- thing was fine. But when I entered grade, 10 I couldn't continue studying. Submitting my grades was very different. I did not have my papers from El
Salvador and couldn’t get my grades submitted in the U.S. The systems are
different and somewhat confusing and that’s what I told my mother. The
trip here was something super different from what I was already used to. It
was one of my first trips alone without anyone to guide me at the airport. I
literally didn't know anything about what everything was like, but even so I decided that it would be like that now traveling is something that I really love. I love traveling. I want to travel and see many places in the world. My trip here changed my life because separating from my mother and my brother was something truly different, something very sad, but I had to learn to live without them. Now they come to visit, and I also go to them. We are separated but our love will always keep us together.

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