Personal Narrative: My Migration To The United States

One major event that changed my life was when I moved to the U.S. I was attending school in Japan, finishing 5th grade and one day my dad got PCS to Idaho, so my family had to move there. When I heard at we were moving to the America, I was jumping for joy. But I didn’t know any English that time and I couldn’t speak or understand English, so I was worried. When I moved to the U.S I was peeling my eyes and noticed that the place is dry as dust, and the cars in U.S were really big, big as a monster truck. Also, the people were tall as a giraffe. I started middle school in Idaho. The first thing I noticed was people were wearing regular street clothes and had their hair dyed. I was really surprised because back in Japan I was wearing a school

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 am the first generation of my family members that has been raised at and attended school in the United States. My siblings were raised and educated in Mexico later transitioning to the U.S. when I was 4. My family from a young age to now has only been made up of my mom, two sisters, nephews, and niece slowly growing as time passes.

Have you ever thought that you would move to a completely new place and start everything from scratch? There are thousands and thousands of people moving from place to place for better opportunities, education as well as careers. There are lots of struggles that come along the road. It will be an individual’s self-motivation and encouragement that will push them forward in his or her life. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” (Lao, Tzu) and my new journey had started when I landed and started schooling here in United States. Moving to the United States and attending school here was a challenge I wasn’t sure up to, but hard work and determination, I was able to make friends and be successful.

When I first moved to the United States of America seven years ago at the age of fourteen, life was challenging. I did not speak English and had to immediately start my first year, as a freshman, in high school. I always enjoyed challenges, which was one of the reasons I moved to the US, and decided to opt out of elementary English classes and jumped right into regular classes along with my English First Language Speaker classmates. Not only I had to learn Basic English to be able to communicate with people, I had to make sure I understood academic language used in classes such as Chemistry, Physics, History, Biology and etc. to pass them. I spent many hours studying English and doing my homework after school. Then, when I started to feel

It was a beautiful sunny day, however, I was very disappointed. My parents announced that we were moving to the United States. My heart sank. I rolled on the floor in protest. I screamed, but the decision was made.

In 2014, I, following my mother, moved to US as an immigrant. Everything was different. San Jose is the first place that I live since I came to the US. It is a crowded city, with the population is about one million. I was stunned by the traffic systems, amazed by those crowded avenues. The typical weather is dry, hot and windy. I love seeing the grasses, on the fields, or up to the mountain, wither into brown in the summer and become green after those rainy days. I love walking along on the side-walk, and watching the Acer Rubrum's red leaves falling from their branches in an Autumn evening. I suddenly realized that I loved this place as more as Duy Xuyen, even though it was pretty tough on me

Moving to a different city or state can be a very big change. Moving to a whole other country? It changes you in ways you would have never thought possible. I remember being very vulnerable and rather powerless when I first moved to the United States. I was barely of age back then, only thirteen and I had already gone from a country with a total population of 1.2 million people stretched over only 2040 km2 of land to this new country with 318.9 million people and an area of 9.8 million km2. It felt like a whole other world, as if I were an alien who had just begun to discover the alternate universes co-existing in the mystical galaxy we all live in. At first it had felt magical and exhilarating but it wasn’t long before the realization that my whole life had changed in a split second dawned upon me. It was no longer a spectacular wonderland with seemingly endless fascinating possibilities as much as it was an intimidating maze of gloomy jungles which became more and more chaotic, suffocating me, the alien, as if to remind me that I did not belong there.

I immigrated to the US with my family six years ago. At that time, we had a hard time adapting to the new environment because of the new language and the differences in culture. During the first few weeks after I started school, I felt really frustrated at myself as my inadequate english skills were not good enough for me to communicate with my teachers and peers. However, my parents were the ones that suffered the most. The language barrier made it difficult for them to find jobs and get through their daily life tasks. I still remember vividly that one time when my dad and I went to a pharmacy to pick up his medications. He struggled to communicate with the pharmacist and recieved juding stares for his broken English. For the first time in

I do not really know if I returned home. The Stuttgart I came back to felt like a completely different city than the one I left. The streets are bare and the mood is reminiscent of the trenches between the bombardments and the attacks. Stuttgart was muted by the aftermath of the war. The Christmas markets that are customarily teeming with waves of people are now akin to No Man’s Land. The slight amount of citizens I do see look empty and hollow as if they just had their souls reaped by the Grim Reaper himself. None of what I thought made Stuttgart the bustling city that I loved existed. Everything was painted in the colors of war. Personally, I wished that I had not returned at all. The news that my sister Kristin had brought up on my return was devastating. My mother and my sister had died in an industrial disaster at the very factory I was working at prior to the war. The very people I had fought so hard to return to. Instead I return

It was cold November afternoon when I dragged myself out of the plane and took my first step on the American soil. Moving to America was my greatest adventure and my biggest fear. Having never traveled to a foreign country before I was intrigued about the culture, religion and style of living, It was an exciting experience for me, yet at the same time, I was terrified. I was curious to learn about the culture and the country itself which I heard in abundance on television. What will it be like? Will I be able to fit in the American lifestyle? Will I be able to make friends? The questions were unanswered until I had to experience it on my own.

Nobody likes moving at least I know I don't. We we're living in India and I was in fifth grade when we moved. We moved into our house in India when I was one year old. Was going great I had a lot of friends. My best friend was my neighbor every day after school we would go to a park in our colony.

When we moved to america we didn't know where to start or where to go. It took us a while to settle in our little town. But after a while we were just doing what we normally did, until this man named michael gladwell. He asked us stuff like “What do you eat on a normal basis”, or “How often do you exercise. We answered honestly.

I think I am talking to the right person. I came to U.S in 1995 March. Because that was my first journey my cousin looked for someone I can travel with and found a person he knew flying to U.S in that same day. I think I travel with you from Trivandrum to Bombay and then from Bombay to JFK, someone was also going to Canada with you on that flight. I am not sure it’s you.

I was told America was land of opportunity. And it truly is. I never thought I would come to this country. I was fearful as I had never traveled to any foreign country. I had many question for myself such as will I be able to adjust their? how will people behave with a foreigner? Will I make friends? These question had no answer I remember the day I came to United States. I was at Los Angeles Airport looking at new people and listening to them speaking different language, although I was happy I felt nervous as well knowing I will have many challenges to face.