I have waited so long to go. I have not been back since 1997; I was one year old, now I am 18 about to be 19. I was finally going back to Syria and Lebanon. There were setbacks that kept us from going all those years, not to mention the war that broke out in 2011. The war was not over but the parts we were going to were safe enough to travel to. Now it was time to go and I was excited, I could finally go to the place were my family is from, where my parents were born and raised.

The plane ride was extremely long, 15 hours long. It was my mother, sister, and I traveling together. We stopped in London, at the Heathrow airport. It was so big and filled with so many different people. We got back on a plane and landed in Beirut, Lebanon. By the time we got there, I was exhausted. Some of my father’s family was there to pick us up. I have never met them before now; they drove us to my aunt’s house in a different city of Lebanon. That night it was kind of strange to go to sleep. The next night we were planning on making the journey over to the village in Syria where my grandparents were from. My father showed up to my aunt’s house, he had told us that he was not able to come since he could not get off work but I guess plans changed. We got all of our things ready and called for a taxi driver to take us.

It was in the middle of the night as we drove on empty roads to Syria, there were checkpoints everywhere. It was kind of intimidating since there were soldiers at every checkpoint. We had to stop and have them check our passports and car, this took some time but we could not rush the process. Eventually we got to the village and by that time it was early in the morning. We were dropped off at my fathers other sister’s house. She was the oldest of the eight of his siblings. She was so excited to see us that she started crying. Her husband was a very respected man in the village, everyone knew him. While in Syria I also met some of my mother’s family, her cousins and their children were there. Everyday the electricity would turn off for a certain amount of time; it was for the country to save some money. I was not used to this at first, but as time went on I started to get used to it.

Everyday that we were in Syria I would spend time with my aunt and her husband during the day. I listened to so many interesting stories told by my aunt’s husband and helped my aunt cook. At night I hung out with my cousins on my mothers side. We would just simply sit outside and stay up until 2 in the morning. They were so fun to be around, I only got to see them for 10 days but I felt like I knew them my whole life. They were all so nice and made me feel so welcomed every time I was around them. Seeing the village was truly amazing, there was so much history there, so many old homes and buildings.

My father owns a home in the village and wanted to put it in mine and my sisters names. My sister and I had to go to a neighboring village where there was a government office to sign papers to have it officially be in our names. It was crazy when we got there, the office was filled with men, just men so my sister and I stood out like sore thumbs. We finally made it to the room with the papers, when we went to sign it had to be in Arabic. I wrote slowly so to not mess up and all the men that were watching began to laugh at me.

It was time to go back to Lebanon. We had to make that same journey again but in the opposite direction. We were back at my aunt’s house. I met so many other relatives on my father’s side, people that I did not even know about. When I met my father’s only brother it was really cool because they were so similar. The people in Lebanon are crazy drivers, they do not use turn signals; they beep. Even if they are merging lanes, they will just beep and come in front of you. We went to religious places, historical places, pools, the beach, and shops.

After a month of being in the Middle East it was time to come back to America. Even though the Middle East was not the safest place at that time, luckily nothing was going on in the places I was in. My family was safe in the parts that they lived in as well. Everyone that I met in Syria always stayed happy even though they knew there was a war going on in most of the country. I would hear certain stories that made me think how blessed I was that I lived in a place that was at peace. It is such a beautiful country but the war did a lot of damage to certain parts of it. Syria and Lebanon are both beautiful countries and I hope the war will be over very soon. It was such a great experience; I met family for the first time and saw the country where I am from. I hope to go back one day again.