listen to what they told me about how they're doing with this. >> for hours straight i was on the phone almost crying the whole time and i went to school. i just knew it wasn't going to help me to stay home. it wasn't an option. >> at first i didn't believe it. then i texted my parents and i got all the messages, i saw all the news. it was pretty hard for the first hours, first minutes. >> my grandparents are still in kharkiv. i'm trying to contact them at least twice a day because there's new news every five minutes about shelgs and blasts in my time. my city is only 20 miles from the border, this is a really dangerous place. this is just like a feeling that you can't really understand. >> lots of people come up to me and say they're praying for my country every day.