Personal Narrative: I Was New American

When my mother immigrated to America from Mexico, she had only her family and hope. Hope for a better life; in the US, she was offered the world, and she snatched it within seconds. Unbeknownst to her, their promises were as empty as her pockets. They stole from her, they ruined her, and they tried to build a wall not only between her country and theirs but between her and her family.

“Times of transition are strenuous, but I love them. They are an opportunity to purge, rethink priorities, and be intentional about new habits. We can make our new normal any way we want”. -Kristin Armstrong. When I heard this quote it reminds me of a specific time in my life when I moved to another country. There are a couple of events that helped me become who I am now.

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.

Coming to America about six years ago and adapting to the new world proved to be a real challenge for me. Aside from the cultural shock, I had to adapt to the usage of a foreign language in almost everything, which in turn forced me to work harder in my studies than in the previous years. My parents sacrificed a lot for their family. They left their country, their own business, and their family behind so that my sisters and I could have a better future. I came to America when I was in the eighth grade. I did not speak English fluently or understood it very well. When I got the admission in middle school my counselor gave the course selection sheet. I did not even know what courses to pick because the courses were almost alien in nature, or

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 never had a favorite childhood memory,I never had a very imaginative mindset, all I remember is all the terrible things that has ever happened, may I ask this of you reader have you ever felt alone in a world that simply doesn't understand or why look or do things a certain way? I know I have, we live in a judgmental world we all judge people on how they look and act. Let me ask another question have you ever been put up on a pedestal and when you make mistakes people starts questioning why you didn't succeed or if you did why didn't you do things a certain way? Well enough of the questions, My family has always been the ostentatious gregarious type, they are like a diamond in a coal mine. My story begins around 2007 the year I came to America.

Ever since I was a kid, my parents always talk about the hardship they went through to get here. From a house with ten siblings, no electricity, and barely any food, my dad manage to escape poverty and support his family by pursuing his passion in electronics. With his passion, he went to high school without an elementary education and barley passed. Afterwards he went directly into the workforce and continue to educate himself until how he is today.

The battles of a young lady fitting into a new life, another world. An adventure meeting new companions, encountering another culture, and training. Blerina Aliu came to America from Kosovo. Just like Christopher Columbus, she came to a new world. Blerina Aliu, a student from James River High School, talks about her time in Kosovo. Kosovo is a state in Southeast Europe. In 2013, she moved to the U.S. with her family. “What was life in Kosovo?” “The food is cheap and wonderful. Everyone is friendly, and wherever individuals welcome you and ask how you are or attempt to help you in case you're a visitor.” “How was school life?” “I lived in a village where I farmed. My school was in another village, and my nation doesn’t have a school transport, so I

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

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

Growing up in America, the majority of people are never worried about where their next meal is coming from or how it was prepared. I have personally been spoiled throughout my life always having an abundant supply of food along with a mother that cooked every meal for me. I dreaded waking up at 5am every morning to head off to the chicken house and pick up, at times, hundreds of dead chickens. Taking Food Science 1000 this semester, I now have a wealth of knowledge about food and food science. I now have a greater appreciation for farmers worldwide as their hard work provides billions of families with food. It has shown me that even small family operations, like my family's, still make a huge impact on the world. Before this class I never really

In the frantic first grade classroom, I was the girl nervously hiding behind my mom’s skirt. My world fell apart when my parents took me out of our close- knit village in India, to a random city halfway across the world. Everyone promised a better future in America, but all I could think about was everything I left behind and the uncanny feeling that I didn’t belong. I felt as if someone trapped me inside a dark,unknown cave.

Eating out for dinner and using a credit card to pay for it is very common for people.

When I first came to Boulder, I lived in the dorm of our university, and I have this roommate who comes from Britain. She was really mean to me all the time and didn’t respect me at all, while I’ve tried my best to be as nice as I could. Since we shared one bedroom and of course the bathroom, she always went home really late in midnight and sometimes even brought her friends directly into the bedroom and woke me up from sleeping.

When I first came to United State I was afraid to talk, I was scared that people will judge my accent and my word choice.I wasn’t enough to speak until the second year of middle school. After I realized that I needed to step out from my zone, the first step that I chose overcome was to speak with my teachers. I tried to ask questions, told them the story of the book that I read to practice my speaking skill and it helped me a lot. But even though I got comfortable with my speaking, I still could not make friends because I could not understand the conversation that my classmate had, I don’t understand what is popular in this place and what is not. I tried to search it but It didn’t help because It is not appealing to me and have no idea how