By Chloe Futrell, Editor-in-Chief

At 4 a.m., junior Maddie Bell rolled out of bed and into the car. She groggily looked out the window thinking about everything she was leaving behind: her friends, her cat and everything she had ever known.

“I was distraught,” Bell said. “It didn’t really hit me till the last day I was there, ‘Oh, I am actually leaving.’ ”

Bell moved 3,589 miles away from her home in Wales in the middle of this past summer. What greeted her was a new house, a new country and a new landscape.

“I was just scared for what was to come, I didn’t know what school was gonna be like, I didn’t know what my house was gonna look like,” Bell said. “It was just really scary not knowing what was coming.”

When she arrived, the island gave her a warm welcome, but it was nothing without the familiar faces of her friends back in Wales.

“I didn’t come to school yet, so I didn’t have any friends,” Bell said. “I was in my house all day every day, just on my own – and it made (the move) way worse.”

Although Bell wasn’t yet friends with any locals on the island, the sandbar was no stranger to her.

“We used to come to the Outer Banks for vacation,” Bell said. “We would always come here once a year and we would just rent a house.”

But vacations to the Outer Banks are not her only connection to the States. Her father is from New Jersey, but for her mother, America just wasn’t the place.

“They met in America but then my mom wanted to move back to Wales. She missed her family,” Bell said.

Now that Bell is here, the physical change of setting is not the only thing that is different – school was, too.

“School is a lot different as well because we didn’t have lockers,” Bell said, laughing. “I have had such a hard time figuring out my locker.”

Another thing that shocked Bell was the culture and fashion of her new home.

“I was on Instagram the other day and my friend was sitting next to me and she said, ‘Why are they all wearing skinny jeans?’ – to the boys – and I was like, ‘That’s the style, that’s just how they dress – that’s normal,’ ” Bell said.

The relaxed style and beach life of the OBX is taking some getting used to, but her favorite things she used to do with friends in Wales are no different than what local teenagers do.

“Over there, there is nothing to do and at night you would just go to McDonald’s and sit and talk,” Bell said. “But because we were in the mountains, we’d go rallying in the cars and just sit up at the mountain.”

Bell has been warmly welcomed at First Flight and has made a few friends, but her first day was not easy. Bell felt as though she stood out because of her accent.

“I tried not to talk,” she said, laughing. “On my first day I didn’t want that many questions.”

Soon enough, Bell was welcomed with open arms by her peers and has made a few friendships, but of course she won’t be forgetting about her friends and her childhood home.

“When I came here I was set on going straight back after school,” Bell said. “But I would like to go to college here.”

Now that she’s here, Bell even has had a change of heart on college from her original plan in Wales.

“In the U.K. you finish school at 16, so I could have been done, I could have had a job,” Bell said. “I don’t think I would’ve gone to college.”

Bell is intrigued by her new environment and is enjoying her time here. Even though she misses her hometown dearly, she looks forward to the opportunity and friendships this new life will grant to her.

Senior Chloe Futrell can be reached at [email protected].