Personal Narrative Essay: America's Gift To My Generation

Life is unpredictable and no one could gifted with a foresight. I still remember that day when I boarded the plane, from China to America, up to eighteen hours of travel. When I step on the land of America, my life instantly changed. The exaggerated graffiti on the wall with a twisted smile looks like the one who is saying “Hi.” to me. When I go in to my “home”,mice and cockroaches are all around. The teen who stand near the door says, “Welcome to America.”

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.

The state of our country, the safety we have come to know as an ingrained American feeling is now gone. The terrifying events that brought down the towers of the World Trade Center, killing thousands of innocent people on September 11, 2001, is a day that will forever be remembered in our history. The hijacking of planes by the acts of terrorist forever changed airport security, the view of turban-wearing Sikhs forever changed how most Americans view them, the fighting of a war in the Middle East for more than a decade, all are changes that we faced and are still facing due to the violent mastermind of Osama Bin Laden. That Tuesday morning, which started off like any other day, leaves us with many lingering questions, many children who

Growing up in America, I have always been surrounded by many cultures and different ethnic groups. Many of those cultures differ from my own traditionally. For the first half of my life, I was raised in detroit, a predominantly black city - I had always assumed. My family eventually moved out of Detroit and we moved to Inkster. Inkster was a much smaller city, but it was also a predominantly black city. In 2011, my family moved from Inkster, Michigan to Canton, Michigan. Although the two cities are less than a half hour apart - the cultural and ethnic groups are extremely diverse. While attending my freshman year of high school in Canton I realized, I was a minority there. More than half of the student body, more than half of the community

Writing is a miracle itself. Believing in miracles can make you a proponent of the second chance in life. Following your dream is life long pursuit of one’s purpose. Sometimes winds of destiny are inflating your sails; sometimes you hit a rough spot in the ocean. The drawbacks are good chance for reflection and readjusting. As a first generation immigrant I had the opportunity to witness myself the land of Opportunities and experience the concept of an American dream first hand. Deciding to come and live in the United States and leaving my whole family behind has been hardiest decision that I have made in my life so far. The doubt that this doubts about that decision has chasing me as a bad dream since the day I have arrived in the United States.

It was a gleaming Monday morning and I was cheerfully walking to the lunch tables where my friends were, until I was suddenly halted by a somewhat familiar person.

I was born in Havana, Cuba and lived there for ten years. If I am honest I cannot remember much about Cuba unlike my mother; however even though I cannot remember much I always used to think that Cuba was home regardless of how long we stayed in America. Similar to most children I took after the actions of my parents while growing up. If my mother and grandmother spoke about Cuba or any topic related to it I would listen to them and then I tried to have the same conversation with my uncle as if to let them know that I was thinking about Cuba as well. I used to believe that when we flew over to America we brought Cuba with us and that was a normal thing; however my thinking was changed over the course of only one year in America.

What do you want to be when you grow up? When I was four, I wanted to be a princess, like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty; except, without the evil step-family and the vengeful evil queen hunting me. I wanted the pretty dress; and let’s be honest, I wanted the handsome prince. By the time I was nine, I was convinced I would be country star. I wanted to be the best of the best, and stardom seemed like the way to do it. With Taylor Swift as my idol there was no way my plan could go awry. Thirteen hit me and I decided I was too grown up for such childish desires, and my plans changed to becoming a neurosurgeon. Today, if you were to ask me who I want to be when I grow up, my reply would be that I have no clue. I can only tell you three things I want to do; the same three things I have to do. I have to remain hopeful, become the best version of me that I can possibly be, and most importantly, I have to pursue my dreams. These are my responsibilities to America.

Do instead of just sitting there doing nothing. I have the opportunity to have something to keep

The america I believe in. I believe in the free rights, the constution, and the pledge of alegence. Thoughout my whole life I’ve had a knick for wars, mainly world war 2. I read books about World War 2 and many other wars constantly, even to a point where I can’t read anything else. The U.S.A. has been my home since the day I was born. I have only left the country once and it was to Mexico. When I was there I noticed that they had bars on their window, I asked my dad about it and he told me it was because of how unsafe it was. My honestly first thought was, “why are we here if it’s unsafe?” I have always wanted to go to other countrys and see what school is like there and what freedoms they have. After reasearching many different places and

the biggest struggle for Americans these days seems to stem from poverty, drugs, broken homes, rasicism/discrimination and so on. how lucky i am that i was raised in a loving, upper-middle class familyi’ve never had many friends. throughout elementary school, i’d spend every recess on the swingset because i didn’t want teachers seeing me wander alone and then make others kids play with me. their pity made me more uncomfortable than being alone. as time went on, things seemed to only get worse. middle school was horrible. i would come home everyday and just try not to cry. i’d never felt so alone in my life.

It is great to wake up every morning knowing my life is entirely up to me. We live in the great United States of America. Being an American means I have so many rights and doors are opened up to opportunities other countries do not have. America has given me the right to choose whatever education and profession I want.

Being born in 1997, I am one of the first of this generation to reach adulthood. As the last of the millennials finish graduating college, Generation Z, also known as generation or iGen, are rapidly growing up. Not much is known about this generation, but we do know a few things and can predict the rest. As Millennials are making headline as America’s worst generation, iGen is working behind the scenes to change America for the better.

“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.