Personal Narrative: Moving To Connecticut

Moving from the South to the Midwest was a huge change in my life. For my whole life I grew up to the southern hospitality and the tang of salt in the air since the beach was always less than 5 minutes away wherever I lived. Now I moved to a place where they flip you off to say hi, and the closest thing to an ocean is a sea of grass that seems to go on forever. Although I am now adapted to the change for the most part, it took me awhile to break in to the social norms of an average Midwest kids.

Moving to the states was a huge deal for me, since I have lived in Germany for 12 years. When my dad told me we were moving, I ran upstairs to my room and immediately called my friend Sina to tell her about it. This news broke my heart because I would have to leave my friends and not see them for a while. It was very difficult to leave my friends, but after a few months I got used to it. “Party in the U.S.A.” makes me think about being scared of people judging me and to just go with what others are doing.

Before I moved to Canton, I lived in Wethersfield CT. One day during late summer when I was around 6 years old there was a bad thunderstorm. It ended up turning into a storm with tornadoes. My dad was in the middle of mowing the lawn and suddenly came inside, which is unusual because he likes to finish what he starts. When he came in he said that the sky didn't look right. My mom stood near the stove making chicken salad sandwiches with a worried look on her face.

Roughly four years ago I moved to Buffalo with my mom and two sisters, best move ever. Before then I had lived in Rochester, or to be more specific, Brockport. My childhood house was big and gray. It had a huge yard and very long driveway. However, my house in Brockport is not my home. I call home my green and white Tudor styled Kenmore house. It has a small green yard and a short driveway. It has been the best part of my life because of all the opportunities that were missed out on when you live so far away. Here in Buffalo I have the opportunity to go the high school where my mom, aunts, grandma, cousins, and sisters all graduated from. For now my job is going to that high school, but the second I turn sixteen, I will be working as a cashier at the dashes down the street from my home, a little family tradition. The reason I moved though, is hands down the most awful thing to happen to me or that can happen to a little kid, like I was at the time.

The year was 1999 when we moved to Colorado from New Mexico. I was just a year old. My father recalls searching restlessly day and night to help support me and my mother. Coming to a new state was difficult; moving from basement to basement was their only option. Fortunately, a little after our arrival, my father found a job working construction and we were able to get a small apartment.Although small, it was still fulfilling in every way. Money was scarce at the time, as well as food. As he talks, he mentions a weekend night when he and I were spending some time together in the living room. I was a year old, and I was hungry. I decided to go to the kitchen and find some milk. When I made it to the kitchen, I opened the fridge. My father says,

I really don't know how to say what I am going to say. But I'm going to try the best that I can. I am really thinking that me taking the Grand Rapids store was a bad decision for me to make. A lot of it is because of the pay. Over the last two or so weeks I have paid more in gas than the raise that I was given. So right now I am losing money going to work. If I would have know it would have been anything like this I would have turned it down. I would have loved to move to Grand Rapids but there isn't any places for me and my family to move to as of right now. The earliest a opening was coming was sometime in November and that wasn't a guarantee that I would get it. And I am not in the position to wait that long. The ones that they did have

When I was nine years old my father went to prison. Since he was a single parent, I was forced to relocate to Washington State to live with my grandparents. Moving to Washington was one of the worst things that I thought could happen at the time, even though it ended up strengthening me as a person. I was forced to leave my friends, school, father and all of my other family members. I was taken from everything I knew and was left very confused and conflicted.

I’d lived in Florida my entire life up until I was nine years old, so moving to a new state was a big change for me. In fact, moving to Ohio was the biggest change in my life so far. It was because of my grandparents’ visit that mom realized living in Florida isolated us from the rest of our family. For this reason, my parents came to the conclusion that we should move to Ohio. I didn’t want to go at first, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

I spent my childhood in Suburban Connecticut, and my teenage years in Florida. Both places effected my outlook on life and my personality in different ways, especially because my experiences in both places was very different. In Connecticut, we felt the effect of a climate with four discreet seasons — and many of my conceptions of family life still have seasonal associations. Raking leaves and picking apples during the autumn; ice-skating with my sister during winter; how good it felt to slink off our scarfs and heavy coats in the spring; and the sadness of leaving my parents to go away to summer camp. Eventually moving to Florida, at age 15, the things I missed the most was the excitement of seasons changing. We had the sun year-round their

To everyone that is thinking about staying in the NH area you can't go wrong with this property. This was our first time renting from Airbnb and we had a great experience. From the time we arrived to the time we checked out we were very well treated by Linda and Doug.

Packing up your life and belongings is a difficult task to do. My family lived in Apple Valley, MN, until the week before my 7th birthday. My parents told my younger brother and I that we were moving to Hastings, MN. I had no idea where that was as a child. I was excited about this new experience. I have always been interested in travelling. When we arrived in Hastings, it was nothing like my old town. I knew nobody, all I knew was that I lived in the middle of the woods. Moving to a different town isn’t just about the new house, it is also about making new friends at a new school, and living a different lifestyle.

One day in November 2016 I was sitting on the couch with my dad and he asked me how I would feel if we moved to Louisiana for his job. I instantly got so upset and told him no we can't move because I have my whole life here! He felt really bad about making me and my stepmom move, but he could do nothing about it anymore because he already signed a contract he would go. So angry and sad I just cried and had no clue what to do because it would separate me from my family, my boyfriend, and my friends. One thing I knew was that I was not going to Louisiana.

Moving to a new city can be scary, but moving to an entirely new country is terrifying and unreal. As I walked down to the lobby of the airport with my family, I was overwhelmed with all kinds of homemade welcome signs from family members and friends. It was January 25, 2005 and my biological sister (who was six years old), my adoptive brother (who was ten), and I (who was seven) just came from Ethiopia to America, a place my sister and I would call our new home. It was roughly 12:00 am as I walked outside into the bitter, cold, harsh winter. I was layered so well with all the wintery gears that you could only see my eyes. Once we got in the car, everyone was knocked out with exhaustion except me.

I had called Childress, Texas my hometown for 13 years and had just finished my freshman year of high school when my parents made the decision that we had to move. My freshman year I had been on Varsity track, placed in the top 10% of my class, voted most likely to succeed, judged at the FFA state Homesite contest and had placed 2nd at the UIL state golf tournament that year. Things were going just as I wanted them to and I had proven my potential very early on in my high school career to my teachers, coaches, and peers. When my parents said we had to move my world came crashing down and the first words in my mind were, “all that hard work and dedication for nothing.” I soon realized all those titles and accomplishments meant nothing compared to having to leave the friends who had become like family to me. We moved as soon as what was supposed to be my best summer break started, and I spent that summer tearing up carpet and painting ceilings of my new house in Roaring Springs, Texas.

I was 10, about to start the 6th grade when I moved from Portland to a small town named Valley Springs. I still remember the day I moved vividly, leaving my entire childhood behind along with everyone I knew. I was terrified and anxious about the many things that remained uncertain. A big city compared to a small town was quite the adjustment and a major difference. Everyone knew each other and I was the odd man out but it wasn’t long before I made some friends. It was a different atmosphere, the people, the history, the entertainment and simply, the lifestyle. It was a lot to take in but I still managed to make it the best that I could. I moved a lot throughout my childhood, it was always a new adventure. I have always been told that I am good with people. Sometimes I think the reason for that is because when I was younger, going to many different schools required making new friends, engaging in conversation and meeting many different people. It was always hard for me to trust and to let people in but moving to Valley Springs was humbling and I finally learned that I don’t need to know someone my whole life to know that they will be there for me.