Growing Up In New York City

“If you know your identity and you know your community, both of those things, embrace them, whatever your goals are, no matter where you want to be. It may not be one path to achieve that goal; you may go down different paths. Just make sure that you make it authentic as possible. And how do you do that? Be yourself,” DiMarco

Moving to an unfamiliar country during my teenage years is a big dramatic change for me. I dealt with a lot of anxiety and insecurities on how different I am from everyone else. To help me get started, I registered with just one class at my local community college. Living with my mother and to someone, I now call my father, I was

Transitions are never an easy thing to conquer. It is often hard and stressful to cope with changes to one’s surrounding, but in the cases in which one manages to conquer this obstacle, elevation of knowledge and experience are great results gained from this achievement. I originally came from Africa and recently moved to the United States to join my mother and my step father. This great change in the things I had become accustomed to in my daily life was not easy, furthermore taking into account the fact that I had never experienced a transition so little as shifting from one residence to another.

Mark Caine once stated, "the first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself." Growing up in the Bronx, New York, this quote greatly applies to how the environment in which I grew up in shaped my aspirations. Living in the Bronx can prove to be difficult and it requires strenuous effort to find exceptional opportunities. Resources that are provided towards education are limited, meaning that most supplementary aspects that we need to obtain a "full' education is not granted to us.

Moving to a new country, a new culture, and a new society after 18 years of living in my small hometown was really tricky, especially for a teenager who just got out of high school. Leaving my home and friends, changing my routine and letting go of the simple, insignificant daily things that I used to do over and over again is surprisingly heartbreaking. You see, I was born and raised in Jordan and have lived there for about 18 years before moving here to Chicago. When I first started college here at Moraine Valley, I was a bit scared that I might not be able to fit in with the students or get used to this new culture. I was not a complete ignorant of American culture since I watched a lot of American TV back home, so I did not really experience

New York is a state where there are big lights and lots of people and busy streets. I live in Brooklyn, New York and I was born here and I have lived here all my life. Personally, where I live I can walk to go get groceries that I need and everything is in walking distance. I take the public subway or the bus to get to school and there are many public schools here in Brooklyn, New York. There are delis and corner stores almost around every block. Here in Brooklyn, it is very noisy and busy. I am so used to the noise that I can sleep soundly even with all the noise that surrounds my house. Personally, I think that if I were not born here or was not a New Yorker, I would plan to move here when I get older.

Now, here I am, a junior at Mineola High School, and I feel ready for whatever will come after high school. As I try to figure out what I want to do with my future, I now know how much I love travelling and people and hope my career includes that. Moving helped me see my flaws and strengths. It helped me recognize that I am sometimes too diffident and circumspect. While in Mineola, I managed to ameliorate my social skills enough to be voted by my classmates as “Class Favorite” and have also joined activities I normally would have been too shy to take part

Being born and brought up in New Jersey, Rutgers always was known as a prestigious university. Rutgers is a place of opportunity. My brother who is a transferred into Rutgers last year, is always telling how the Criminal Justice program is amazing. He continuously tells me about the incredible classes he has had the pleasure of taking with professors such as Dr. Edem Avakame, Minteh, Shields and Adubato Associate Professor in the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice. Along with these professors, he has told me about his advisors, Lawanda Thomas and Alexandra Charles, who helped him as a transfer student adjust to being a new university student, along with showing him opportunities in networking within the Criminal Justice field by sharing news

Not even a little bit. I mean, growing up in Texas, you just don’t ever expect to.

There are a lot of fond memories of growing up in Texas because I have spent most of my life here. Texas is a diverse state with many different cultures and languages. The opportunities are as vast as the many different areas of rural and suburban living. There are many different sights to see, places to go, and roads to travel in this big state. Texas holds everything that I love from my family to my friends. My Texas memories include various beautiful scenery, wonderful smells, the sound of music, the blazing heat, and the feeling of being home.

In retrospect, I believe that when you move somewhere, you have to be open-minded about the many differences that you’ll encounter cultural and systematically. And I think one of the ways you become more open-minded is by persevering. All it takes is believing in yourself, that you’re capable of doing anything despite the stereotypes and adversities that may present in your

Living and growing up in a small town is better than doing so in a big city.

For Christmas and my sixteenth birthday present my parents planned a trip for me to go to New York City with my dad. Two days after Christmas me and my dad hopped on the plane and headed for New Jersey and New York City. I was very excited because I had been to New Jersey but I never visited New York City before. I also remember being excited because of that fact that I would actually get to see snow in the winter since it rarely ever snowed in Houston during the winter. Then that next year during my junior year in High School, I had the opportunity to go on a trip to Los Angeles with my drill team. I was very excited to get to go to both of these huge awesome cities in that two year period. Both of these cities were unique in their own way. So what makes a city similar to another city and what makes a city different to another city? The people, the weather, the vibe, the monuments and popular attractions are all some of the components of what makes a city unlike any other city. My two favorite cities besides Houston are New York and Los Angeles. I have visited both and like them both equally for different reasons. While New York and Los Angeles definitely have their similarities, they also have many differences that set them apart from each other.

Every time I hear this song it makes me long to leave all of my responsibilities and head off to the city of dreams. A trip to New York has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. I have always wanted to visit the place of tall buildings, history, and where culture is intertwined with its people. I have wanted to live the fast pace life of a New Yorker, where I could stand outside and see, smell, and taste all of the experiences that this city has to offer. I have been building and building this ideal image in my mind for so long. If I ever get to New York, will I be disappointed by the city that never sleeps? The city that is a part of almost every movie I watch. Can New York live up to the expectations I have

As someone walks over the grates in the sidewalk, they can feel the wind rush up from the subway cars flying through the tunnels. While they continue walking down the street and looking at all the different people that they pass, they can smell the hotdogs being cooked in the food truck. In the distance, they hear a siren weaving through the congested narrow streets of this busy city. New York City is a one of a kind type of place. It is the only place in the world where so many different cultures and backgrounds are all in one place. Along with the multitudes of different types of people and cultures, New York City truly is the city that never sleeps. The city that never sleeps, New York City, is full sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feels.