I had never thought that one day I would move outside my country and live far from my family until I met a man who is now my husband.

We met in January 2012. I was a student in my last year, he was working after graduating from the same university as me. We started dating and got to know each other. I found him very interested in immigrating to the US or Canada to have a better life, but this was not my wish.  After a couple of months, he won the American green card lottery and he started preparing to move. I was very sad and afraid to lose him. We decided to stop our relationship to avoid having broken hearts.

He got his visa and moved in September 2013. We stayed in contact every day and after a time I started to be convinced that maybe I should immigrate because I would be with him. After one year he came back to Algeria and we decided to have a civil marriage. He returned to America and started my visa procedure which took almost two years. It was long and difficult wait for us even though he visited me a couple times.

I got my visa in November 2016. We celebrated our marriage which was a very special day. We moved together to New York and were very thankful to God who reunited us.

When I came in December 2016, it was very cold so I couldn't go out a lot. I spent most of my time at home, except on my husband's day off which we spent together and visited many places. The first four months were very difficult for me. I felt lonely and had no idea what I should do to keep myself busy. 

When the spring came, I started to go to the public library and I met some people and practiced English with them. After I discovered ARNIC school, I liked it so much, it helped me to improve my speaking and I met people from over the world. I still like to spend time in ARNIC and learn a lot of things.

I would say love brought me to America not anything else.  Maybe I didn't have dreams when I came to the US but it's never too late to have goals and realize them.

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