Hi, I'm Grace Duarte, I'm 16 years old and this is my story. I was born in United States in 2002, when I turned four, my parents decided move to Colombia to be more closer to my dad family, for that reason we are not that close to my moms cousins who lives in there. My mom choose a school for us, so I started in this school since I can remember, and here I met my best friends that even today I still have a friendship with them. Starting seventh grade, I had a severe pain in the lower part of my stomach, and it turned out that I had appendicitis, almost peritonitis, that's when I had my first surgery. the month after the surgery I still had pain. the wound had gotten infected. so basically, I last all my vacations in a hospital. that is what has marked me most in my school years. Now days I am in the 11th grade, I am junior, with the same classmates I met a long time ago. my sister, stephanie duarte is a lower grade than me, but we have a very strong friendship and trust. She is the person I trust the most. next to my parents, John and Peggy.