Last year, junior Carolina Guerrero Sembergman and her friends were walking together on a crowded Colombian street when a teenage boy approached her.

He pulled out his switchblade. Sembergman felt him press the sharp edge against her skin.

“Give me your phone or I’ll kill you,” the boy hissed under his breath, his face concealed by a beanie pulled forward. She refused. Frustrated, the boy threw down his knife and punched her in the face. While Sembergman threw a punch, the boy grabbed the iPhone 5S out of her pocket.

“I was thinking, what do I do, what do I do?” Sembergman said.

As the two began to fight each other, Sembergman saw something in the corner of her eye. She watched a truck halt abruptly in the middle of the road. The driver, a large middle-aged man wielding a machete, exited the car and approached them. Sembergman froze. She didn’t know if the man was going to help her or if he was coming to kill her.

To her surprise, the man turned to the boy and ordered him to give Sembergman her phone back.

“It was like a movie,” Sembergman said.

Shocked, the boy dropped her phone and ran off. The anonymous hero and a group of onlookers bolted after him, leaving Sembergman and her distressed friends behind.

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Her family had been planning on leaving the country for years. When Sembergman’s mother and stepfather got married two years ago, they began the long process of moving to America. She said her mother was relieved, knowing Sembergman would have a better life there.

In America, being mugged in broad daylight is nearly unthinkable. In her home country, it happens on a daily basis. In America, she can walk in the street without fear of being robbed.

“[Here] you feel safe,” Sembergman said. “In Colombia, you don’t feel safe.”

After moving to America last year, she had to learn to ada­­­­­pt to the culture. This included learning English. She entered an ESL class, where she gradually learned the language with the help of teacher Jane Trkay.

Regardless, she continued to miss her country.

Last spring, her parents planned on going to London over the summer, where her step-grandfather lives. Frustrated, she argued against the decision. Sembergman said that her mother promised she was allowed to visit Colombia every summer.

“She fought her parents not to go to London, she wanted to go back to Colombia,” Trkay said. “I was like, ‘Are you crazy? Go to London.’”

After convincing her parents, Sembergman finally was allowed to visit her home country.

Once she arrived in Colombia, she made plans to meet up with an old friend in the park. While waiting on the bench, Sembergman noticed a boy sitting next to her. He glanced at Sembergman.

“He was like, ‘Can you give me the time?’” Sembergman said.

A seemingly innocent request. However, she explained that when someone in her city of Cartagena asked what time it was, they had an underlying motive. They would wait as a watch or phone was pulled into view, and examine it. They’d see what model it was, and if it had value. They’d see if it was worth taking.

“You can’t trust other people,” Sembergman said.

Knowing this, Sembergman said she couldn’t. She said her watch was broken and that she didn’t have a phone. Angry with her response, the boy smashed his glass bottle of Coca-Cola and pressed the edge to her chest.

Not again, Sembergman thought. She grabbed the boy’s wrist and slammed the bottle out of his hand, causing it to shatter on the concrete. Seeing the wallet in Sembergman’s pocket, he quickly grabbed it and sprinted away.

While Sembergman has gotten used to this type of violence in her home country, her experiences in Colombia have taught her to be more careful. After the first incident, she started to carry a pocket knife with her for protection. She learned to hide anything that someone would want to steal. If anyone saw the outline of an iPhone or a wallet in her pocket, she would be at risk of being robbed. Instead of keeping a wallet in her pocket, she learned to hide her money in the front of her pants. She remembers her stepfather’s warning every time she would leave the house.

“He told me, ‘Don’t be on your phone when you’re in the street,” Sembergman said. “‘Put your money in your pants.’”

After moving from Cartagena, Colombia to Highland Village, Texas a year ago, Sembergman had become well accustomed to America, and it shows.

“When she first got here, I was a little concerned because her English was developing very slowly,” Trkay said. “But then all of a sudden last year, it was like, boom. She was talking about everything in English.”

Once she gained confidence, Sembergman became outgoing and quick to approach new students. As the class buzzes with excited chatter following the bell, she is seen talking eagerly with her fellow classmates. She’s adapted rapidly to her new home.

“I see Carolina staying here after she graduates from high school and becomes an adult,” Trkay said.