Born A Crime: Memoir Pastiche

Often people experience great changes during their lives, which sometimes have positive and sometimes negative impacts for them.

Such a change happened to me when at the age of 12, as soon as I had finished primary school, my family and I left Greece and settled in Abu Dabi, because my father, who is an ENT doctor, after an examination, took a position at the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dabi. It had always been his dream to work in a hospital of such a high standard. I left a small town, Ioannina, with a population of 100,000 inhabitants where I had all my relatives and friends and I was suddenly found in a large town of 1,5 million inhabitants, where there are people from all around the world.

Arriving in Abu Dhabi I started to worry about how we would organize our lives without knowing anyone as well as how I would be able to meet the demands of an English language school without having sufficient knowledge of the English language. I often wondered if my mother, my little sister and I would be able to adapt to our new environment. Because in my homeland until I finished elementary school I was an excellent student and I had a lot of extracurricular interests, I would often wonder if I could be an equally good student in my new school. There were times where I would feel that i do not belong and I would never fit in in this new society, not only because of its cosmopolitan spirit but also because of the new language I had to start speaking to communicate with other people. Due to these aspects I lost my self-confidence, I had suddenly become introverted as a personlity, and even today it is really difficult for me to share my ideas with other people.

In the long haul, however, with effort and perseverance, and with the help of my parents and teachers, I was slowly able to adapt to the new circumstances and to the educational system of my school. The friendships I developed with my classmates also helped me significantly to integrate into the new school environment with its multicultural character, to acquire a cosmopolitan spirit and to understand that diversity can unite rather than divide people. Our teachers also cultivate the spirit of cooperation, tolerance and humanity, in addition to the cultural knowledge they offer us.

The change that has taken place in my life is beneficial for me because it has broadened my spiritual horizons, it has endowed me with knowledge and skills, it has offered me options of career guidance and I believe I have become a better person with love and understanding for everyone. Living in Abu Dhabi I also feel lucky because I met a country that is constantly investing in a better future for its people both technologically and culturally. Moving to a new country might not always be a bad thing after all.