Personal Narrative: My Migration To United States

My family comes from a humble background. My grandmother started working at the age of 13, with small jobs in order to feed her siblings. My grandfather worked many hard labor jobs in order to provide for our family. With my grandfather’s hard work, he was able to bring my grandmother, my two uncles, my father, my mother, my brother and I into the U.S. My grandparents decided to migrate to the U.S because in Mexico, they had nothing. They had enough to eat but they were still struggling to come out of poverty. When my grandparents migrated into the U.S my grandfather would still work a blue collar job, until he fractured his spine and couldn't work anymore. Nevertheless, that did not stop him from working. He began selling in swap meets, selling

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.

I came to US during my 8th grade and that was a life changing moment in my life. It was first time traveling aboard and that also not for a trip but for to permanent settlement. I was nervous my whole time been in the plane that how I will cope up with new environment and with bunch of English speakers. I got more. When it came pilot call for, that it's time to land on the Detroit Airport, tighten your seatbelts and be relax. As soon as the plane landed on American soil, I knew that this was the place where I’d to start a new life. Even though I knew America is the “Land of Opportunity”, everything here seemed so strange to me, the streets, the language and the people that was my first time traveling abroad.

“Something that I never had in life, something that you have but are taking for granted, I won't stand for it.” Game controller in hand, I gulped hard, with sweat rolling down my head. My eyes pointed directly downward, not daring to look up as my mother gave “the talk.” My mother’s words echo in my head. Having lost her father during high school, she was denied her right to higher education. She married at a young age, moved to America, and gave birth to me. The first born, the carrier of the American Dream. We were what one would expect from an immigrant Indian family; working hard, valuing education, and hoping for a better tomorrow. As my parents worked hard to sustain our family, I strived to excel in school, motivated by their hardship.

"Yesenia tu tienes una chispa" said a much older white haired man. At that moment how could a snot nosed brat understand the importance of words coming out of this man's mouth? A big part of me today traces back to words my grandfather so sweetly spoke to me and to the tenderness and love he shared with me. "Yesenia you have a spark" He said it to me I was raised to believe I am unique. The first time my grandfather and I were separated was when my parents made the decision to move to the United States. When you're as young as I was, you don't really understand where you're going or why everyone is crying, or the fact that your life is about to change. Coming to the United States caused chaos in my family. Those first years were hard I wasn't used to an unstable household. Later, my parents divorced that led to hate and

My mother gave me this book to write in before I left my entire family behind in Chiapas, Mexico. She told me not to be afraid and to write whenever I am feeling upset, anxious, or angry. I haven’t wanted to write this stuff down, but I do not want to say it out loud either. I moved to America last year to stay with my aunt, uncle, and cousins in Brooklyn, New York; I was twelve then and perhaps very naive about what my life would be like in America. I didn’t know any English, but my parents told me that coming to America would help me become smarter. Better even. Unfortunately, America is not what I thought it would be and in recent times, the President is even threatening to make us leave. In Mexico, I felt that I had such an amazing life, where I was able to run around and be free. But here, I am stuck between four walls in a small one bed-room apartment. In the land of opportunity, I feel that I have none.

Over the past seven years my family and I have moved to many different countries and we have never stayed in one place for very long. In the year 2009 my family moved to Costa Rica, in 2010 we moved to Guatemala, then in 2011 we moved back to the US, then in 2012 we moved to England, and finally in 2015 I moved by myself back to the US. I really struggled with the moving to different countries so often, the biggest struggle I had was I never felt like I had a permanent home. It also felt like every time I finally put down roots, they just got ripped up again. On the other hand, one of my best friends, who also moved to many different countries all over the world, never struggled with it and loved the adventurous aspect of moving. For the longest

Most students don’t spend tons of time trying to memorize vocabularies, but I do, and i have been doing that for many years now. I have a normal family with parents that love me a lot, we go on to vacations if we have spare time. My new life started when my mom and dad decided to move to America in order for me to get a better education, and mostly did not want me to experience those harsh studying in China. I came to America when I was in fourth grade, and everything was really different from the world I used to be in, the environment, school, and people around me. I felt really uncomfortable at first but I quickly adapted the situation.

The first time I’ve met my parents was when I was five. When they approached me at the airport, I did not know who they were. When I found out that they were my parents, I did not know how to react — I was excited, but also scared. Standing in front of me were two people whom I listened to the voices of for the past five years and spoke casually with on the phone, but meeting them in person was a whole different story.

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.

Many people who move to American, immigrate because it’s their last option. Some people flee to escape war, or poverty. My dad’s situation on the other hand, was more of a mental decision. I interviewed my father, Mariusz Kukielko for this project because I admire his intentions and courage he had when he was forced to make this big decision. I have always know he was an immigrant, because I was myself about three years old when we moved, but I was too young to recall anything. The interview took place in my living room.

Last years, I was in Iraq, in Baghdad, in my house with my mom and sister. It was a beautiful weather, when the phone rang and my mom answered, immediately the smile became on her face when she heard we would travel to another country. After the phone closed, she came to us and said,¨we will finally travel to United States,let us go to prepare the backpacks, we do not have more time to waste¨these news were amazing, but I became sad that we left my cousin, my friend in Iraq. Next, we prepare to go to the pline, we moved in pline to Ardon, then to Germany, and then to United States. It was a fun trip in airport and also a tired one. Then,

I moved to united states in June 2016. My life has been a roller coaster ride ever since. I got married to the love of my life and my best friend. Then God blessed us with a beautiful baby, who is now our world. I started college when my baby was one month old. I want to finish my studies just so that I can be a role model for my daughter. My major is accounting and I plan to do Bachelors in Business Administration and then I will try my best to be a Certified Public Accountant.

Last year, August 1 was nice day we were at home eating lunch and someone who work at UN call my dad and he said ''you will travel to U.S.A after two week'', he ask my dad are you agree to travel to U.S.A ? My dad said ''yes I agree''.

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.