Sorry

My name is Fanny Arnouts. I was born in Munich, Germany on December 14th 1999. I lived there for 3 years with my family then we returned in France in La Ciotat. It’s a nice town on the south coast of France. My older brother and I went to school and it seemed like we were gonna stay there a long time. We had our little routines, but one day my dad came back from work and announced to us that we were gonna move to Hawaii. He showed us where it was situated on the globe, on the total opposite side of the world. It seemed absurd to go live in a place this isolated from everything else, but we had no choice, our parents had already made the decision. It had been 3 years that we were living in la Ciotat and we already had to move again. We left a couple months later. We were off to a new start and this time my brother and I were old enough to understand what was happening.

When we arrived in Hawaii we didn’t speak a word of English except for my father. Our parents put us in school and we had to learn by ourselves. The first couple of months were really hard, we didn’t understand anyone and no one understood us. So to have a normal conversation it was impossible. Even though we didn’t speak English well we made friends and they were really patient with us. They helped us with our English and we taught them a little bit of French. We changed school 3 times there from Montessori school to Waimea Country school and lastly to Parker School. Parker school was the best, I stayed there 4 years. My class was made up of 20 students, and we were all together for 4 years. We were like a small family of friends we did everything together. School over there was surprisingly really fun. We worked a lot and we didn’t have a lot of vacation breaks but since we had a lot of school days we had talent shows, camp outs, pep rallies, etc…  Other then school, I have to say that Hawaii is a beautiful place with its palm trees and bleu seas, its tropical forests and waterfalls, its valleys and mountains… Living there was a wonderful experience. I learned a whole new culture, the Hawaiian culture, which is based on spirits and Pele (the goddess of fire). It widened my mind and made me more curious. While I lived there I traveled to the mainland on my vacations with my family, to New York, San Francisco, Utah, Nevada, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Traveling a lot as a kid made me who I am today. I want to travel the world, learn new cultures, make new connections and enjoy life to the fullest.

But 7 years passed and it was time to go back to France. I wanted to go back to France and have the city life I wanted but I never realized how much I was attached to Hawaii until I was back in France and I had to start school in Marseille. Leaving Hawaii, the place that was my home for many years, was extremely hard. Telling myself that I might never see my best friends again was the worst thought. In Marseille I had to start over again, make new friends and adapt to this new life. I felt alone here, no one could replace my old friends. But as time passed I lost more and more contact with my friends. A lot of the nights, I used to cry myself to sleep thinking about Hawaii and telling myself that my life will never be the same. I tried to put on a smile every day and tell myself that I was happy. Now I have changed I finally found new friends that are here for me. However, ever so often, when I feel alone Hawaii comes to mind and I cry thinking of my old life. Even though I try to move on, Hawaii will always be an unforgettable experience and my Hawaiian friends will always be in my heart no matter what.