Junior Bassma Albitmouni has many transient hobbies; she’s a chess aficionado, amiable conversationalist and passionate philomath. Currently, she’s really been enjoying playing chess.
“I don’t have a consistent thing, but lately, I’ve been doing chess a lot,” Albitmouni said. “I cannot say that I’m professional with it. I lose, like, 30% of the games that I play, but I like playing it.”
Another one of Albitmouni’s hobby is boxing. It helps as an outlet for negative emotions and thoughts.
“Instead of going and arguing with someone, just go box and you’ll be good,” she said.
Currently, Albitmouni does not have all her boxing equipment with her but she makes do with what she has.
“I used to have an actual boxing punching bag. But, when we moved here, I don’t. So, the victim is my teddy bear right now,” Albitmouni said.
Albitmouni also enjoys watching TV shows and movies with her family.
“I watch a lot of Turkish series,” she said. “It was one called ‘The Promise’ (Yemin). It was good.”
As Albitmouni is an only child, she believes she’s closer to her parents than most people usually are.
“We’re a small family of three: me, my mom and my dad,” Albitmouni said. “We are so connected because we’re just three people.”
She enjoys celebrating Eid al-Fitr with her family. Eid al-Fitr is a Muslim celebration of the end of Ramadan, which is the month of fasting and introspection in Islam.
“We have to wear new clothes, go pray [and] have fun with family and friends,” she said.
Albitmouni was born and raised in Saudi Arabia before she moved to Missouri, U.S.A with her parents in 2023. A key difference she noticed when she came here was in the units of measurement.
“Even the units of measurements are different,” she said. “Like, we use Celsius for temperature and here, you use Fahrenheit. For height, we use meters and centimeters, you use feet and inches. So it’s like, why is everything different?”
Relocating is often accompanied with an immense mental pressure to succeed. As a child of immigrant parents, Albitmouni’s biggest fear is disappointing them.
“[My biggest fear is] to let down my parents,” Albitmouni said. “They are immigrants who just came in 2023. If I didn’t do something, their immigration and everything is gonna be in vain.”
When she feels stressed, Albitmouni always reminds herself to be positive and grateful for what she has.
“Whatever I have a problem with, there are some people that have bigger, much bigger problems. Like did I move, everything is just fine and I’m stressed out? Some people lost their homes. Is it warm and I’m just angry because it’s so hot? Some people don’t have air conditioning,” she said.
Albitmouni values her relationships with her friends. She appreciates her friends for their honesty and patience.
“I have a friend that she’s graduating this year, and I feel really bad that she’s going,” Albitmouni said. “I just met her this year, actually, but I feel that she’s one of my closest friends. She’s honest, and she listens, although I’m a talkative person. I talk forever and she listens; that’s really good.”
