Sitting in the crowded cafeteria, she is dreaming about what everyone is doing back home. In July, after finding new jobs, senior Aqsa Noor and her family moved from New York City to Texas, where she is adjusting to her new life.

“My brother is a pilot [who] works here at Dallas Fort Worth Airport and my dad owns a dollar store in Dallas,” Noor said.

Since moving, Noor realized that Texas is different compared to New York.

“It’s too silent,” Noor said. “The biggest thing is that everything is far away.”

Noor says that holidays such as Halloween are celebrated on a bigger scale in New York than they are in Texas.

“During trick or treating, you see all these people outside [from store to store],” Noor said. “But in Texas, you won’t see a lot of people, because everybody’s at home.”

Noor enjoyed her life in New York because it was fun. She said that living in Queens, N.Y. allowed her to get to know a lot of people because it was a busy area.

“I knew every single thing, and I knew every single person because of my dad’s store,” Noor said.

Noor felt that the worst thing about moving was leaving the place and people she loved behind. She did not want to move to a place where she did not know anybody.

“I knew [my friends] for four years,” Noor said. “They were like my sisters. We all planned to graduate together.”

Noor and her family plan to move back to New York next year because her dad’s business was more profitable there.

“I feel good [about moving back] because I can see my friends again,” Noor said.

Noor hopes that she will have fun while living in Texas. She wants to make good memories before she moves back to New York, because she wants to enjoy what Texas has to offer. Noor said that she is excited to move back, because she can return to the life that she loves.

“I lived in New York for 17 years,” Noor said. “It’s a place that I love.”