I Am Good, What 's Up Bro?

Leaving my home in Hawaii and moving to Oregon was one of the hardest things for me to do. Maybe I would have felt better about it if my parents had asked me for my opinion before picking up our lives and moving to some place I had never even heard of before. I know I shouldn’t have cared that much. After all, I was only a 1st grader and even now my parents don’t consider how I’d feel before making decisions, so why would they then? At the end of 2007, I said goodbye to my best friends for the last time and left for Oregon.

Since the moment my oldest brothers moved to the United States my family knew we could not be apart from each other. Four years past, enough time to finally go start a new life with my brothers in the U.S. In between those four years I was born, my sisters would always talk about my unknown brother to me. Then they told me we were going to move. I was barely two years when we came to the U.S. It was February 25, 2004 when we said goodbye to my grandparents, mom and dads family. It was a long ride from Mexico City to Nogales, when we arrived in Nogales my brothers friend, Alejandro was waiting for us in a minivan. Alejandro told us that the toughest part was coming. He said we had to split up, my sisters and dad was going to walk through the

I moved to Connecticut in the September of 2008 because my Dad had a job transfer. This was around the time that I started the second grade. I was introduced to so many people and they were all so nice to me. Six years later, I made countless friends and started to feel like Connecticut was where I wanted to stay forever. But in December of 2014, my Dad got a phone call from a company in South Jersey and they wanted him to work for them. At first, he worked 3 days in Camden, and the rest of the week in Connecticut. That was difficult though because we did not get to see him as often as we wanted to. My parents then sat my brother and I down and asked us if we wanted to move to South Jersey. I did not know what to think. After six years, I loved living in Connecticut and I wanted to stay there. They told us that it would be a lot easier to move down to Jersey instead of my dad traveling every week. My brother and I both agreed that this is what we are going to have to do. I can still remember that day though. It seemed liked the world was going to a scorching end. At least my world was. I started to tell my friends that

I wanted to live back in Iowa with my daddy and step mom so It was Christmas break and me and my sister had traveled from Huston to Iowa for the break. The break was almost over my sister was ready to leave I wasn’t ready so my mom asked do I want to stay and I

When June, 2015 came around my time in Iowa was coming to an end. We started packing and getting everything ready to leave, I spent as much time as i could with my family and best friend. June 17th the day we were leaving I had a lot of mixed emotions at the moment, seeing my bestfriend cry, me not wanting to let go of my granny from our hug and saying bye to the rest of my family. I just thought to myself. Am I really moving?

In that summer prior to moving in the fall, I grew anxious and eager. My friends slowly began to move to their new colleges and I thought to myself “wow, this is really happening!” Unfortunately, my sister and I (we are twins) started school on the same day so our parents had to split up and take me to California and her to New York. My mom traveled with me and I remember us sitting in the airport waiting for our flight watching my last sunset, and she said “I am so happy for you. I know you will enjoy this.” I knew I would

That day at the airport, I thought about a lot of things while we wait for the plane to take off. Moving to the United States with my sister was a huge turning point for me on so many levels. It meant that I will need to learn a new language and adapt to a new culture. It meant that I will leave my aunt and uncle who have raised me for the past eleven years. It meant that I will live with my mom and see my dad and stepdad for the very first time. My emotion was mixed with excitement, fear, and hesitation.

It was the first day of summer, about 10 o' clock in the morning and my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize but I answered it anyway. "Hello Ms. Mullen are you coming today?"

It was June of 2013 and I was in my room cooling, watching “Good Luck Charlie”. My mom came into my room saying that she was ready to move out of New York. Obviously I did not want to move out of the city I was born in. My mom never liked living in New York, so she always thought about moving. So the plan was to move in August. Time went by and I was thinking about what North Carolina would be like. I really wasn’t thinking about the friends I was leaving in Brooklyn, that never crossed my mind.

Towards the end of my 8th grade year my mom told me that we would be moving again, but this time to a whole other state. Once again my heart dropped and I was devastated. I told my closest friends and they all cried with me. They threw me a little going away party and I hung out with my best friend from my old school before I left. I didn’t want to relive being the new kid again but I didn’t have much of a choice since I didn’t want to live with my

Engkent, Lucia. Skill Set: Strategies for Reading and Writing, 2nd ed., Oxford, 2011 ISBN 978-0-19-544169-7

As the end of the night approached us, I couldn’t stop thinking about how many mixed emotions I had about starting a whole new chapter in my life. I couldn't wait to go to college, meet all new people, get a degree so that I could start my career path, but I knew that meant I had to say goodbye to my two best friends, who were moving several hours away from me. This was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do in my life. We all cried a little, and then made promises to keep in touch, and then we were off into the real world! I was very happy to be at this point in my life, but I was scared deep down inside.

It was just a normal day in New York, until I got home. The place was trashed, nothing was stolen so I tried to call my mom. She didn't answer but I heard ringing so I went to go look for it, it was my Moms phone knowing my mom she never ever leaves her phone. So, I called my brother.

Life is full of adventures and experiences. The key to living well is making these experiences as meaningful as possible. I went through a very significant experience, which was actually more of a risk, about two years ago. I was 15 years old and I had to decide whether I would stay in my hometown or move to Monterrey, Mexico. As in every dilemma faced, there are pros and cons that will try to sway you. Time wouldn’t stop and the day of my decision was getting closer and closer; the less time I had to decide, the more confused and undecided I became. All I could do was imagine myself living the future in my hometown or in Monterrey. But, why was I put into this situation? Should I have stayed where I was born and where I’d lived my whole

Right after we got back from Austin that next Thursday morning I got the worst phone call of my life. My brother called to tell me that my cousin Jake and Kate my brother’s girlfriend had been in a motorcycle accident. All I could do was cry. At that moment, my heart started racing and I froze. My brother told me that Kate his girlfriend died on scene and as he is telling me this I could hear his voice tremble. I asked about my cousin and Zack said he is hurt pretty bad but he didn’t know where they took him. That moment right there is one that I will never forget no matter how hard I try. I always dreaded phone calls like these but I was hoping I would never get one. That day was so hard for me. I had class that I did attend but I couldn’t think, all I wanted to do was cry. My