In this speech I will be talking about my journey from India then Singapore and finally to America. I will talk about feeling like an outsider everywhere I traveled to; because of the color of my skin, because of my accent, because of my morals and lastly because of my standard of living. The key points that I will be discussing are stories from my lived experience as a brown, Indian girl from a small town, how I came about to love English as a language and pursue it, how my parents did not initially support me but came around eventually, how I found opportunities for myself to create space where I enforced agency and was surrounded by people who were open-minded and willing to accommodate me into their space despite our differences and lastly, all that it takes to be away from home is creating a home for yourself. Diya Goyal is an international student from India studying creative writing and business at Knox College. She was born in Agra, which is the city of Taj Mahal and lived in Singapore for 8 years, where she developed a love for the English language. She is a senior and president of the UNICEF and aaina Club on campus. She also works as an international ambassador alongside esteemed faculty members. She likes to indulge in recreational activities like performative dancing, jazz nights at the Community Arts Centre and badminton during the weekends. She is extremely passionate about her culture and often cooks Indian food for her and her friends when she misses the feeling of being home. She believes in being open-minded, kind, empathetic and hard-working as values to practice in one’s day-to-day life. Post-Knox, she plans to get into marketing for a publishing firm or go to graduate school. She dreams of a world where she gets to bring her parents to America and give them a better life. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx