Personal Narrative: Moving To The Empire State

“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.

It was a nice summer morning we I was all of a suden shoke like turbulence on a plane to wake up. It turns out I slept threw my alarm to wake up for the day. It was about 11:00 am and today we were heading to Florida and our flight takes off at 1:00 pm. You may think that we had time to make the airport in Milwaukee but, we had to drive all the way to Chicago, Illinois because there was no flight for Florida in Milwaukee. Luckily I had packed the day before with the rest of my family so all we had to do was wait for our aunt Lisa to take us to the aiport in Chicago. She showed up five minutes later with a mini van and there was about seven of us jammed in there. It was alright for me because in our family if you called “shot-gun” or “I

I hope your Tuesday afternoon is going terrific. I am Miten Bhadania and I would like to formally introduce myself as your colleague working in the Tech department as Developer.

Traveling between the Bronx and Manhattan has allowed me to see that even though they are so close in distance, everyone is yet so far. Being raised in the Bronx has allowed me to gain a sense of home and recognition, but also how stereotypes are meant to deceive us. The Bronx is labeled as a dangerous place, where violence occurs, but people neglect the beauty and happiness that surrounds it too. Meanwhile, when people think of Manhattan, they see it as the heart of New York where everyone is living their dreams. When in reality, the “heart” of New York is much more distant from itself, and that is not just because it is on an island.

New York is a place with a diversity and plenty of room to grow in any direction you choose. New York City is a place of many opportunities. It gives me a feeling that I can accomplish anything I set out to do.

The city of Chicago has been displayed as a dangerous city in which all residents are affiliated with drugs, gangs, and misconduct of firearms. Whether someone fits into this stereotype or not, is normally based on their surroundings and their interactions with others. Growing up in Gage Park, named one of the worst neighborhoods, falling into this stereotype and becoming affiliated with drugs, guns, and gangs, would not be too hard for someone to do. However, I have lived in Gage Park my whole life and have not fallen into the status quo. I have had family members and friends fall into this realm of unpleasantness and watching them become another wrong kind of statistic is upsetting. I have been faced with the decision of continuing to have

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.

New York City, the shining icon of the American dream and the mixing pot of cultures, was but a name I knew when I was young. Nine years ago, I finally set foot on the fabled city when my family immigrated to the United States. The gigantic airport, JFK International, spanned for miles and its terminals stood proudly over the jumbo jets below. That night, nausea from the plane’s descension and the entropic movements of my aunt’s Jeep prevented me from seeing the outside world. I rested my head on my mom’s lap while still imaging what the city was like.

In my life there have been many personal challenges I've had to deal with. Many of these challenges circulate around my movement with my mother as we've been all over the United States as her job wasn't as stable five years ago as it has become recently. We lived in Iowa for four years, 1,000 miles away from my father and the house I grew up in. We became two separate households. I knew, most of all, it would be a strain on my parents, who would only get to see each other on holidays or whenever they could scrounge up enough money for the journey.

David O’Sullivan, from Yonkers NY, brought up some positive things about living in New York City. He talked about the very social environment. “I moved from there to Morehead, KY and it is totally opposite. I like clubs, bowling alleys, a choice of a million restaurants to eat at, and places to hang out, which are the things New York City has.” David also brought up the point that you do not have to own a car in the city. He took the subway everywhere, and got around much faster than compared to dealing with

On a day in which the sun was shining like a new fluorescent light bulb, I sat on a heated metal bench that was located in front of a large, stone fountain where a brace of ducks lingered, and I began to read Chasing Brooklyn.

“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.

The year was 1910 , I just made it to the Golden Door in New York City . There were a tons of people , everywhere I turned I seen Italian , Greek , Slav , Russian , Jewish , East European , and even Armenian people . I then met a Jewish family that helped me get to The Office of the Superintendent of Immigration . Me and the family were approved and admitted after hours of waiting . Then I asked one of the officers where should I go now ? He told me I should head over to “ Ellis Island .” So me and the family followed the crowd of people to the New York Harbor , were we sat and waited for hours to get on the boat . When we abroad the boat , people were pushing and shoving to find a secure spot on the boat . Everything happened so fast that

Mike gets himself sent to jail, which is exactly what he wants. He has a master plan of getting him and his brother out, but he’s a bit scared. When he arrives there he starts thinking of what to do. He takes in his surroundings and feels out the prison and what he’s going to do. Out in the big, smelly, yard where all the inmates were Mike saw his brother and started talking to him about how they are going to escape the prison. Mike says, “Think of it this way. Where we are right now is New York. New York is the yard. We are trying to get from here to California. California is the infirmary building. The infirmary building is the building that we are going to use to get over the prison walls. The only way to get from New York (the yard) to

Last summer, my family and I took a trip to New York City. We’ve visited this city about five years ago, but I didn't remember much since I was only eleven years old. This trip changed my mindset on life. I got to experience the unexplainable and took pictures that were priceless. This trip is definitely a trip to remember and will always be special to me.