Lilia Callen was only 12 years old when she moved away from her biological family in Latvia.  When she landed in New York back in 2011, she was met by a smiling family and a sign that said Welcome to America.

  “My sister asked me if I was hungry but I didn’t understand so she started to point at food. When we got home we tried to communicate through Google translate and hand gestures,” said Callen.

   But Google translate isn’t exactly known for making excellent translations, and at times it was really confusing for Callen and her foster family, who’d later become to adopt her. She admits that communication was her biggest struggle when she came here.

When she found out that she was going to be adopted, she didn’t have much of a choice. She was happy about it from the beginning, but also confused. She remembered standing right in between her biological family and the adopting family with a judge right in front of her, which was considered to be a very awkward and uncomfortable situation.

  ”I didn’t know any English at all. When I moved here I´d only finished 6th grade in Latvia and they start teaching English in 8th grade,” said Callen.

  Back home in Riga, Latvia, she was used to sharing a room with her best friend back at an orphanage, and when she came to America she felt uncomfortable with having her own room. They solved that problem by letting her share a room with her sister.

  ”At first it was nice but when they actually adopted me two years later I wanted my own room!” Said Callen.

  She quickly got used to being in the house and in the beginning she was homeschooled by her mother. She couldn’t go to an American school because of her lack of English. Eventually, she got a tutor instead of being thought by her mother, before starting at Southmoreland Senior High School in May 2016. Despite being 18 years old she’s currently a sophomore at SHS.

  Dec. 6, 2016 will be her 5-year anniversary here in the U.S., and even though she’s very happy with her family here she’s missing her family and friends back home a lot.

   ”I keep contact with them on Facebook,” said Callen and adds that she and her best friend talk to each other over FaceTime on a weekly basis.

     Despite all of the obstacles she had, and still has to overcome, Callen appreciates coming to America because she knows that she can get a better education here – something that her adopting family takes very seriously. But even though she’s grateful for her new life on the other side of the ocean, she doesn’t feel too tied down to it.

  ”I would love to go back to Riga and visit my family and friends,” said Callen. ”who knows, maybe I’ll eventually move back. Either way, I’m glad that it’ll be up to me to make that decision.”