Can you comment on my college essay please?

Hello! I'm an international student and I came to the US to study my senior year of high school. As I started applying to colleges, I had to write an essay. I wrote this one but I have no clue how it is. I would appreciate some honest comments on it :)

“We can come no further.” my mother said. I hugged her for the last time and she whispered in my ear, ”Good luck my butterfly!” and I walked through the gate without looking back. I knew from that moment I was walking into a whole new world. The struggles with my suitcases were telling me that in this new phase, my father would not be there to hold my suitcases for me; like anytime before. I was all on my own.
The new world for me was the United States. That day, my flight was carrying me so that I would start my senior year of high school in America. It is not ordinary for teenagers to leave their homes in my country, Iran. In fact, people usually stick to their parents’ house until their mid-20s. So imagine how surprising it was for my family when I told them that I was planning to go not only to live in a dorm but in another country! The first reactions I encountered was to change my mind. “You don’t even know how to use a washing machine!” My mother told me. To be honest, she was right. For me, who was always in the full support of my family was hard to let go of everything suddenly. But I was eager to do so! I truly loved my life in Iran, but I felt that the world had much more to offer than what I already had. The fact that I was living in Iran which has limited opportunities was a strong reason. For example, I even had to travel to a neighboring country to get a visa because the American embassy does not exist in Iran! Do not get me wrong though; a big part of my heart always belongs to Iran. But I just felt like a butterfly surrendered by its own cocoon, as Mehdi Yarahi, an inspiring Persian singer says in his song. Iran was the muse for me to start risking out of my safe zone and end up in the land of opportunities.
As I walked out of the plane onto American soil, I felt a mix of excitement and stress. After all, I was here! Right from that moment, my struggles started. I was starting to realize how difficult it is to deal with everything when you are alone and people around you are from a totally different culture. In the dorm, everybody had at least one person speaking their language, except me! I found it really hard at first; I would have gone to sleep with the thought that I had not spoken my language in days! Since most of the dormitory population was Asians, they had the privilege to at least feel like home when they were in the dorm; but for me, not only in school I was in a culture that had no similarity to mine, but the dorm also was nothing like my home.
With the passage of time, I started to realize how being alone in such an environment was a blessing! There was no special place for me in any group, so I could be a part of every group. I had the opportunity to learn about other cultures and introduce mine to them as well. Also, my English skills improved unbelievably fast! I was so surprised at how things can change from pain to growth.
Since my first day here, every day has been full of new things to discover. Although I was not enjoying every second of it, in the end, I am so proud of myself for managing to change from that spoiled girl to someone who believes has the power to overcome anything. As Bob Marley says: “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

Thank y'all!