Differences In America-Personal Narrative

I walked outside the next morning feeling great. The bright vibrant sun shone on the freshly mowed grass. I loaded into my sister's car and we went off to school. The day passed extremely rapid,

Studying in a foreign country is an interesting experience of an individual lifetime. One tends to learn a number of things relating to ways of life in a foreign land. Social, political and economic values and aspects are usually different from one region to another. Therefore, through studying abroad one is able to learn different issues about another society such as gender and sexuality issues, social class and race/ethnicity issues. Having come from a developing country studying in the U.S.A has been a great experience personally. This paper will attempt to provide a reflection of my personal experience on studying in the U.S by comparing the history of Angola and the U.S.

Growing up in Ghana, I had heard a lot of things about the U.S. This was a country I had always wanted to visit; my prayer was answered when I got the opportunity to travel there. Arriving in a new environment came with many experiences. Adjusting with food, language and the weather was not easy. With the passage of time, however I have been able to0 adjust and fit it. This write-up therefore is to elaborate on my experiences since coming to U.S.

I didn’t believe in aliens until I was abducted by them. I was put in some kind of contraption and I’m not sure what happened exactly, but it’s clear that I’m not where I was. Everything in 2016 is different, I don’t know if I’m in a different state or not but people are dressing differently and acting differently, and the cars, the cars are all different! I’ve been here for quite some time now and have noticed a lot of differences from where I lived in Oceanside, California in 1940. I’ve been transported to the year 2016 and there are so many things that have changed and evolved and among them are political, economic, social, and cultural changes.

Johnnie, Veronica, Frank et al. do me a solid with all your “knowledge” and “wokeness” step outside your educational privilege and support systems for a minute. I in no place in my post said anything about America being perfect so what you did was hijack a status about the solidarity I feel for the people in my life and in this country who very much will struggle with an intensified troubling life experience in the country to PROVE you have some kind of exceptional wokeness or understanding of America. MISS me with it. No America was not safe for everyone but we just did was extend the people who it was unsafe for. If that’s cool with you then carry on with your bullshit. I have NEVER EVER said it’s a safe place for everyone. I have NEVER

Moving to the United States is a huge step for an immigrant. As an international student, I have been passing through this event that most Brazilian desire to. However, it is hard to adapt with the new culture and lifestyle, knowing that I have my own values. The “Two Ways to Belong in America” illustrates two views of getting used with this new culture, in which I identified myself with one of these ways: my nationality cannot be change with a simple paper called green card. Thus, starting a new life in a foreign country is tough because I have to find a way to readjust to this new culture, not ignoring

The very first conversation I had with the one closest to me was an argument. I will never forget it. We were talking about our goals and ambitions in life. When I told him what I wanted to do, I just got the average “Good for you! That’s so great!” response. When he told me that after graduation he was shipping out to Army basic training to become an Airborne Combat Engineer, I didn't give the same response back.

One day I was sitting in English class doing my work. Then a flying whale flew into the wall and destroyed it. It flew over to me and swallowed me whole. It then just flew back to the ocean. While in the whale's stomach I saw some interesting things like a dead person, a needle with steroids in it, a few soccer balls, a rabbit, and a roll of duct tape. After I had been in the whale's stomach for about 3 hours, it started to shake violently. Then something was squeezing the life out of the whale. All of the sudden i was flying through the air along with everything else. I landed on some sort of island.

Walking, walking, and more walking. Today is the day that we begin traveling to Fiume to board a steamship to this place called America. My family doesn't have a lot of money so we can't afford a ride to the port. I only have one pair of shoes and they have many holes in them. We've walked for what seems like an eternity or at least to me. Today is very bittersweet. We're leaving the only place I've ever called home to live in a place we've never seen before. IM not ready to leave. I love Italy but I know it is no longer safe for me, my mom, and my dad. I'm only six years old but I'm old enough to know this could be all a lie. What if America isn't so amazing? What if we done make it? What if we get sent back? So many questions and not

Living in America gives us many freedoms and many blessings. I started my life in the Ukraine. This situation or circumstances I do not know. I came to America when I was 18 months old. A nice family, who lived in America, changed my life by adopting me. Being an

Years before I found a home in my mother’s swollen belly, my identity had already been conceived by both violence and beauty—two emotions which made love on the war-torn pages of immigrant stories collected on my parents’ spines. As a child, the contents of these stories transported me back to our native Afghanistan, where Soviet bombs converted my mother and father from citizens to refugees—strangers on their own soil. Running my fingers through the pages, I felt the blisters on my father’s hands and verses from the Quran on my mother’s lips as they pieced together the fragments of our home and restored a new life for me and my siblings in the United States. Years later in what was the beginning of a lifelong struggle with my identity, I closed

I step off the plane grateful for the safe landing as I wait for the my family to get out of the plane, my little brother comes out with his hair all messed up and matted from the long flight, he gets airsick . While we walk to the baggage claim I look around trying to absorb everything around me thinking, “so this is what it's like in America”. Remembering how sad it was to leave behind all my friends especially Claire and Bella, the airport in France was just a cryfest, we were hugging so long they had to ask us to stop unless we wanted to miss the flight. They both shouted YES! But I knew I had to go, I waved to them until they were just little specks in the backround.

“Take this, and start learning english” is what my sister whilst giving me a book with pictures and english words. My family had recently decided to bring me to Florida. They thought it would be better to go to America knowing some english, rather than none. I never did study the book; learning english as a foreigner without any previous knowledge was a little difficult, for an seven year old.

Like many less-informed Saudis, after high school I adopted an already existing paranoia of studying. In 2007, studying in America was kind of a no-no (since) after the events of 9/11. I was exposed to the American culture because of many factors. Therefore, I was unusual in that I had an immediate goal, as many young people around my age (without any) had no such constructive aim. Saudis in 2007, did not want to go abroad, so I was one of few people. It’s only become a (recent) trend recently to study abroad. I had no plan nor a back-up plan as to what I should do on my return (“what after return”,). Perhaps we Saudis never thought about tomorrow (religiously thinking), for a Muslim is never advised to bother to think about tomorrow (like) as (it) is written also in the Bible (the book of Christians). My

I stand back up and brush off my black raggedy jean shorts that looks like they’ve been road dragged for an hour before heading