People often times become intrigued when hearing an accent, but never actually get to know the foreigner with this accent.  First born in India, then moved to New Zealand as an infant, sophomore Tanushqa Kapadia started living the American dream at age 14. As soon as her dad’s job relocated her family here, Kapadia knew her accent would be a conversation starter.

Although San Diego seems like vacation destination, not everything lives up to Kapadia’s standards from New Zealand.

“I could go on forever when talking about the pros of New Zealand, but mainly it was just so beautiful and green everywhere,” Kapadia said. “The people were extremely nice there, and apparently it is one of the top friendliest countries in the world.”

Every place has its perks, so finding a similarity after moving across the globe is a challenge.

“One thing I didn’t like was the weather because we would experience three seasons in one day,” Kapadia said. “We just really had to be prepared for anything, unlike San Diego where it is sunny everyday. Another difference is that there are so many more people here compared to New Zealand. It’s a really small country, so over here I just feel crowded all the time.”

Being so close to the ocean, locals often do not notice how much of a concrete jungle southern California is, but Kapadia seemed to notice this difference immediately.

“Whenever I would walk to school I would pass a farm because all of New Zealand is farming and natural landscape and everything is close,” Kapadia said. “However in San Diego you cannot always walk to school because of all of the industrial buildings everywhere.”

Adjusting to a new lifestyle is not ideal for most people, but the support from others makes the process easier.

“When we first moved here we didn’t have any family so it was really hard,” Kapadia said. “Moving into an American high school was especially crazy. But after a while we adapted well, we had friends who helped us along the way.”

America is known as the land of opportunities, so the Kapadia family is looking forward to a long future in the states.

“My family really loves it over here because of all the opportunities,” Kapadia said. “My parents wanted a better future for me and my sister. The school especially helped; I would have never been able to do broadcasting like CHSTV in New Zealand.”

After settling in to this new environment, Kapadia realized making the move helped her learn valuable life lessons.

“I also learned that I had to break out of my shell and not be shy because I had to make new friends,” Kapadia said. “I really had to get out of my comfort zone, so I just had to go for it and stay positive during the whole journey.”