Personal Narrative: America's Greatest Gift To My Generation

“Do you like your job mom?” My son Matthew asks me casually looking up at me from his wooden desk chair. I’m working on cooking our family dinner and he’s currently working on a 10th grade essay, where he describes what he wants to become when he grows up. I always have thought that term “growing up” was funny, because through everything I certainly never have. I smiled down at him and answered “Yes, Matthew, I love it very much.” “Can I interview you about it please, it’s part of the assignment?” he replied. I nod and make my way over to the matching desk chair and sit down. “Just answer my questions about your job” He said. “Wait Matt, don’t you have to write this down?” “UGH mom this isn’t 2016, no one writes anymore. Gosh. My IPhone 17

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.

Stepping out of my first plane ride, I experience an epiphany of new culture, which seems to me as a whole new world. Buzzing around my ears are conversations in an unfamiliar language that intrigues me. It then struck me that after twenty hours of a seemingly perpetual plane ride that I finally arrived in The United States of America, a country full of new opportunities. It was this moment that I realized how diverse and big this world is. This is the story of my new life in America.

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.

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”

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

America’s gift to my generation is amazing because veterans have used all their potential for us. They fought for us to be alive right now. Their gift to us is much more than I expected. I am so thankful and I appreciate all they have done for us.

In class we watched a video over a very opinionated male who explained the reason why America is not great. I have a lot of respect for this man and I think that he brought up some extremely valid points that I have never thought about. What I mainly want to touch on is the fact that he accused my generation of being apathetic. He basic says that we could care less and are lazy good for nothings. The best response I can think of is, look at who raised us. Now, I am not saying that it is entirely our parents fault or their parents fault for the reason why teenagers do not care about school, grades, or the world. I am just saying that it is unfair to put the entire blame on my generation saying that we are the reason why the America is not great. He makes it seem that as soon as my

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

I would like to see who could survive as long he did with just books that state some facts. We all have this idea that we could do better then anyone else. For example, the elections are coming up. Numerous people believed that Barack Obama was a lousy president and can not wait to see him leave. The same people also say how they would be a much better president than him. I have no idea how to run a country with millions of people in it and I have a very high suspicion that others who aren’t in politics no either. Just like this not everyone is an expert on how to survive in Alaska.

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.

Grand cars drive down our street. Radios are now practically in every home and play news and stories for families to listen to. Homes are stocked with new appliances, the latest technologies. Some may say that our great country has reached a golden age of prosperity and wealth. However, take a look from a different perspective, and you’ll see that this isn’t the case. America is not the land of the free. Technology may have advanced, but socially, we’ve remained stagnant. Some of our citizens are still shackled by the ties of racial and sexual inequality, and freedom is something they long desperately to grasp.

My personal American Dream is essentially to just be successful enough in life, so that I could take care of myself. I do not need to be rich to do this, and to be honest I would be content with just a slightly above average paying job. As long as it would be enough to cover my expenses I would be fine. If I was able to leave work one day and pay for some take-out food as I go home with my own money I would know that I’ve accomplished my American Dream, because I would be supporting myself without the help of others.

The American dream can be viewed in a lot of ways to different people. I view it as a variety of things. When I imagine the American dream I think of having so much money I do not have to imagine twice about buying anything, I could have all the cars I ever wanted. Another thing I imagine is having all the Siberian Huskies I want so I can have a big sled dog team. Then I can save the gas in my cars so I can make less stops at the gas station. The last thing I think about is being able to skydive anytime I want to. However, there are also people who just want to have a proficient education and be able to have a family. The American dream is having an amazing education, having a lot of money and having a exceptional family.