8 Mile (4K) (Wbr) (2Pk) (Digc)

Fifteen-year-old Rani had to get away. Until now, life was boring and beginning to get downright depressing. Besides academics, she had tried track and field, cross-country, basketball, spelling bees, book bowls, and more. School was not the friendliest environment. It was more like a battle zone. Academics was where Rani could compete with just about anyone at her school. It was the reason she often ended up in classes with older and bigger kids. Yet, Rani had been bullied and she was usually the youngest and smallest in her class. In addition, she kept to herself at school, and despite the fact that she had a killer vocabulary, she was often quiet. Rani's home life was stable but smothering. Very little ever got past her parents. Rani loved them, but the feeling of living in a fortress had to go.

Rani saw international students wandering the halls of her school and wondered how they were able to attend school in the United States. She wondered how she might be able to attend school in another country. After all, don't kids wish they could live somewhere else all of the time? All Rani had to do was find a way to leave, and before Rani knew it, she had. She would be able to attend school, meet new people, and maybe grow up a little too. Rani would soon learn that the first month of living in another country is stressful, scintillating, and uncertain. Living in South Africa captures Rani's journey to attend school abroad.