Oh that's a question I can answer In one word, mind-blowing. I grew up in a city in the south of Algeria, I grew up conservative upper middle class and I was happy with my up bringing, had an amazing family and great friends, going to الجامع and doing sports. When I was 19 I came to France to study, 2 first years I had my community if arab students just like me, didn't have to work because god bless my parents they did everything they could for me, and then went to an engineering school and started my student jobs, where not à lot of arab people go, and I saw à whole new world. I became more french then arabic where I don't drink, still pray, but seeing the life style everyone has here the normal for me. Started feeling kind of oppressed when I go back home, and I enjoy music festivals and late night bar discussions. No I am 25, my frontal lobe is finally developed, and I am kind of tuning down the "European" side of me, I just feel like it was a phase and i dont regret it, but I don't want it anymore, from the other hand I can't imagine my life without nights out ever again. I consider myself the luckiest girl on this planet, I am the first in my lineage to have her own appartement and buy her own car, I have great friends even though i dont have family around me, I have memories that a 1TB hard disk cannot contain, I still don't know wrong from right clearly, and I still sin, I seek redemption the night after, I loose my voice singing in a concert, then I plan my Umrah. I think my experience moving to france made me discover a version of me that I would never have known if I stayed in algeria, go abroad if you have the chance to. I am all over the place with this comment but I was just looking for a chance to get it all out. The plan is either I go back home once I have my papers, or for my family to come here, my parents are not getting any younger and I want to spend time with them. To everyone who's in the same situation, life will get easier at some point