Personal Narrative: My Experience Of Moving To America

John sat quietly thinking about the events from the day before. A lot had happened in the last couple hours. He wasn’t sure whether to stare at the wall in shock or go out celebrating. John had just been naturalized. He was a citizen of the United States of America. He never has to go back home. He had rights. He could out and say anything! He could practice his religion! He was American.

Even though it hasn’t been a long time since our family has moved to America, it feels like a lifetime ago. I can barely remember the days of walking around barefoot and only having a small piece of bread to eat, while here everyone has shoes to wear and eats pasta multiple times a week. How my life has changed in such a short time. Everyone and everything moves at such fast pace here, if one blinks they can miss a lifetime. Back in Sicily, the days drug on while everyone went through the motions of their days on the farm. There are many differences between Sicily and here in America, but the first time I laid my eyes on the Statue of Liberty, I knew I was meant to be an American.

Since I came to America, I made great progress not only with foreign languages but also with my adaptive capabilities. From what I saw, read, and talked with my friends, I realized that I am improving more and more. In the past two years, I learned a lot more here. This experience not only broadens my view but also enriches my life. It changed my life for the good.

I walked around unsteadily all day like a lost baby, far away from its pack. Surrounded by unfamiliar territory and uncomfortable weather, I tried to search for any signs of similarities with my previous country. I roamed around from place to place and moved along with the day, wanting to just get away and go back home. This was my first day in the United States of America.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Truer words have never been spoken. Coming to America was my greatest adventure and my biggest fear. I had never traveled to a foreign country before. I was intrigued about the culture, the people, and the country itself. What will it be like? Will I be able to adjust to that pace of life? Will I make new friends? I would have to find answers with experience. Moving to another country meant starting a new life over again, in an unfamiliar place with strangers i have never met. Being the “new kid” is never comfortable.

Growing up as a military brat wasn't easy, there were many places we had to go to and we didn't have a choice. One of those places was here ,Illinois, and I was ten when we made the move here.This move was probably the hardest thing I have ever physically gone through considering all of my mom and I's stuff was lost in the ocean because the place we moved from was Hawaii.So, when we got here me and mom both didn't have our stuff but the rest of my family did.To make matters worse my dad was being shipped out to South Korea and we didn't have a house. For a whole year we were homeless,we put what was left of our stuff into storage and moved in with grandma. As terrible as that year was, it taught me a lot about what some people actually live

Transitions are a part of life. Most people their first big move is going to college after high school. Mine was gliding over the Pacific Ocean at the age of three to New Zealand. When most people think of this country, they think of The Lord of the Rings, an abundance of sheep, or even, “that one island close to Australia”. To me, though, New Zealand was my home. After nine years, I would be leaving everything I knew and I would be moving to America. However, my life did not start in New Zealand. I was born in Fairfax Hospital, Virginia, and for the first three years of my life, I lived in America. I don’t remember much about the house we lived in, but I do remember walks to the park and my black Labrador: Pepper. We had to leave her behind when we moved to New Zealand in 2000 because strict bio-security laws would require her to be quarantined. She was left behind. I left many more memories behind in New Zealand when I moved back to America in 2009. Things like

Every individual have moments that changes their lives. It can be a big moment or a small moment, just depends on how each individual sees it. As for me, I wasn’t born in America; I was born in Vietnam. For nine years of my life, I did not know where America is and what is America. Not until I migrated here, to America, to live with my father because he wants me and my brother to have a better and a brighter future. Vietnam and America are totally different from each other. Vietnam is a very poor country; where as America is a country of luxury. When I first moved to America, I was overwhelmed by everything; the environment, the community, and the language. Everything is unfamiliar to me and somehow I have to adapt with those unfamiliar things.

I couldn’t believe the day had come, I was moving to America! For me, this was going to be a whole new experience and a life-changing event. Truth be told, I did not know what to expect, and on what is going to happen next.

Coming to a new country is hard, especally when you don’t know the language- up until I started school, it hadn’t been a problem for me. With the help of my parents, I was abe to overcome the challenge and become a great student. When I was in 4th grade, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to a better school where I’d recieve better education for

I have to say, that my life now, is fairly cushy. I don’t have to worry about to many things: I own my own car, I pay my rent on time, I have a decent job. A lot of what I have now, I owe to my grandparents. They chose to immigrate into the United States from Mexico so that my Mom would have a chance at a good life.

I'm in a small small town named Grosselec Poland in the year 1920. I am in the town square, people are bustling about. There are many shops selling food, clothes and a few selling jewelry. I look over to see a woman walking with her three daughter to the grocery store. I follow them inside to hear the owner say, “Hello Jetti how are Rachella, Sylvia and Esther? Any word from Jacob?” This is my great great grandma, my Mom's, Dad's, Mom's, Mom, Jetti Teidor. She responds, “They are doing fine, now word though, I am starting to think that it is time for us to move to America.” After they leave I follow them home. Jetti opens the door, walks to the small kitchen and starts to make dinner.

For the past sixteen years, my father had always told me and my family that we were going to be relocated to the United States of America, but for some reason it never really happened. At this point, moving had become second nature to me but it was always in India. As my dad moved up the corporate ladder, I had moved to five different states in India before I moved to Maryland. But when my dad told us again that we were going to move to America, no one believed him.

Because I know my English was not that good back then, and that is impossible to be improved a lot in a short period. I was really sad for a long time after they left that day, since that’s something about me that I cannot change-English is not my mother language and never will be. I’ve already tried my best to communicate with them and to blend into the new cultures around me since I came to America, but it’s still hard for them to even try to understand my status.

America at first sight was a potato farm. Immigrating from korea to America was a huge change. Learning new language, making new friends and adjusting to the new culture are some huge hardships. My first stop happened to be a small isolated and rural town in Idaho - a whole new world for a girl from Seoul to experience. This was only a beginning. I learned that the most important key to reach for the stars is to be brave. (