"When I was 15 my dad told me he had a big plan ahead of me, when I turned 18 or 19 and when I would be thinking about college," she said. "He told me he wasn't going to tell me about it so I wouldn't worry, but he said to work hard and do my best every day so I could make his dream come true."
5,774 miles and an 11 hour and 44 minute plane ride away. Cairo, Egypt is one of the most populated countries in the Middle East and has one of the largest Arab populations in the world. Ethnic Egyptians fill 95% of this country, being very conservatively Muslim and the most widely spoken language is Arabic. Hala Mostafa Elshaarawy was born and raised in this country and decided to leave home for the first time to come to the United States and attend Saint Peter's University to join the women's basketball team. She's now a senior, starting her last season of her career in November and graduating in May.
"I wanted to come to the US just for basketball", she shakes her head like she's said something wrong. "Well also for a better education, but mainly basketball."
"In Egypt, they don't really care about women’s basketball," she said. "I wanted to try something different. When I would see women playing college basketball on tv, I said, I want to be a part of this."
Her father, Mostafa Elshaarawy, was someone who understood her dreams, more than many people in her life did.
"Where I'm from, it's really strict and really really religious," she said. "The families are not like how my Dad raised me. He's very open minded and he trusts me, but all my friends and family fought my dad, because he let me go (to the US) by myself, as a girl.
Women in Egypt are the caretakers and housewives, they have equal rights, but men have more power than women at home, according to everyculture.com. That's their culture, but Elshaarawy's father wanted her to experience something different and be an independent woman.
"My dad fought them back and said you're fighting me now, but when she comes back you'll see how much she will change for the better, and nothing bad is going to happen to my daughter."
Elshaarawy has played a total of 88 minutes of division 1 basketball, averaging 5 points a game, and has 100 blocks, which is 28 away from beating the record at Saint Peter’s University. She'll graduate in the spring of 2016 with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and a minor in business law.
And she's done it all for her father, wearing his name, Mostafa, on the back of her jersey.
"When he was a player he got offered to play in the US, but his dad was strict and closed minded," she said. "He thought my dad would have went crazy in the US and he didn't want to risk it. So my dad wanted me to go, so he can see how successful he could have been through me."
“How do you feel about graduation coming so soon?”
She looks around; she smiles slightly and puts her head down.
“Well I don’t know”, she said. “I'm so excited but at the same time I really really sad and I don’t want to leave because I don’t know what the future's going to bring me.”
Not only has her dad had dreams for her to fulfill, her mother has aspirations for her daughter as well.
"My mom wants me to get married and stuff but I don't really think about that right now," she said. "But that's our tradition. When a girl hits 24 or 25, know she needs to think about getting married, getting a house, and having a husband."
"But is that what you want?"
She scratches her head and looks at me giggling with rosey cheeks.
"I want to play basketball", she said. "I don't want to ever quit. I just don't think about getting married and stuff because that's not how I wanna live my life right now."