I am Vicky and I am17 years old. My father is from Finland and Sweden, my mom from Russia, Saint Petersburg (Leningrad if you will). I was born in Finland, Helsinki (like my little brother and older sister) and right after my mom was ready to leave the  hospital I flew to Russia. I say that I am Finnish both Swedish, which I am but I speak only swedish and Russian and I am closer to both the cultures) I went to preschool there, I was 2 and a half years old, the youngest of all the kids there. When my sister was ready to go to school, my dad decided to go back to Finland, to receive a better education since there was no international schools in Petersburg. I went to the International school of Helsinki, where I was properly bullied for being blond, fat and always having a different opinion than others  until one day it all changed. My dad decided to move to Singapore only because there was a school that will allow me to have more opportunities in the future. At that point I didn’t care where to go, but to escape all the bullies and mean people in my life, most of my free time would be with family which I was and am close to.  We move to Singapore, and I go to school. I decide to myself that I need to take my weight under control due to others laughing, I did sports before, but not as frequently. I started swimming 5 times a week and one monday morning before school, I danced, played basketball, volleyball, tap dancing and fencing. Looking back at the pictures of me, I don’t understand why I was so ashamed of being that size, I was never big, but chubby cheeks and my posture made me look that way. I am happy that I did start doing sports, but what I took away was to never listen to others mean criticism and not let yourself down. On the first day of school I found a single friend and stuck only with her till grade 6, didn’t even try to meet other people due to the fear of getting bullied again. Then she left. Of course I was crying and was sad, but grade 7 changed me. Sounds cheezy but I found new people and a guy best friend that was new for me, by the end of the year I knew everyone in the grade. Through the years of middle school I was trying to break the stereotype of dumb blonds and having to love pink if you’re a girl. I never wore skirts or pink because I didn’t like it. Going into highschool I thought to myself that I should give skirts a try, which I liked, not because everyone else was wearing one, but because I liked it. I started being friends with different genders which helped shape me as a person. My ability to speak more than three languages opened me up to many things and people that I thought I would never meet.