The World Is Your Oyster

The plane took off and were in the air leaving the place I had only ever known. I remember when my parents told me and my two brothers that we would be moving to the United states. At the time I didn’t know where we would end up or how we were even getting there. All I knew was I would be in a totally different landscape with a lot of ethnically different people whom I have never met or seen before.

Life is unpredictable and no one could gifted with a foresight. I still remember that day when I boarded the plane, from China to America, up to eighteen hours of travel. When I step on the land of America, my life instantly changed. The exaggerated graffiti on the wall with a twisted smile looks like the one who is saying “Hi.” to me. When I go in to my “home”,mice and cockroaches are all around. The teen who stand near the door says, “Welcome to America.”

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.

In the months, weeks, and eventually days leading up to my flight to Germany the panic was gnawing away at me. Despite the fact that this wasn’t the first time I was venturing out without my parents or even my first time on a plane, it was my first time for a myriad of other experiences in my life. My first international adventure, my first time living with a family that wasn’t my own, and my first time being surrounded by people speaking a different language; all of which began with a simple decision to cross the threshold between the jet bridge and the plane.

Stepping out of my first plane ride, I experience an epiphany of new culture, which seems to me as a whole new world. Buzzing around my ears are conversations in an unfamiliar language that intrigues me. It then struck me that after twenty hours of a seemingly perpetual plane ride that I finally arrived in The United States of America, a country full of new opportunities. It was this moment that I realized how diverse and big this world is. This is the story of my new life in America.

It was almost 4am and we had slept in the cold LAX airport on black and while marble floor. Very comfortable and accommodating. At this point a cardboard box on a heating grate in New York would be the Ritz Carlton. Jamie and I stared at each other coldly, hating each other, damp sweat and anxiety poured over us. Silence. We just want to get out of here. "This sucks." Was a common response to our deliriously back and forth conversation as we tried to keep our spirits up.

The book I brought sat unopened, my mind was focused on the site of the sea and my own thoughts. The music my IPod played served as background noise to my regrets, to the things I was proud of doing and saying; to the future decisions I would have to make, the fears I would have to overcome, and to the purpose I would fulfill.

I remember the first time I flew in an airplane. My eight-year-old self looked out the window of the terminal I was taking off from, astounded by the large size of the vehicle. Worried, I thought to myself how could something that big fly with so many people? Yet, as the plane took off my worries became excitement. Not only was this my first flight, this was the event that marked the start of my new life, my takeoff from Vietnam to America.

When we first landed in New Jersey, we had to wait because we had to wait for the other people going to Latvia to arrive in Jersey so that way we all were on the same plane. When everyone showed up, the girls seemed to bunch together and the guys seemed to bunch together. And myself, I was sitting all alone, thinking that I had made the biggest mistake going because I didn’t think that I would get along with anyone. “I wondered how Rebecca and I would get along.”(Gutradt 9). No one would talk to me and I wanted to talk to them but I felt alone and uncomfortable, even though I had my cousin and grandparents, my cousin found people to talk to, so I was alone even more. When we got on the plane, I got to sit next to my cousin which was awesome because I didn’t want to be next to someone who I didn’t know and didn’t talk to at the airport, the plane ride was about Twenty-two hours, which let me say was so exhausting. Being on the plane for that long is fun, but it gets very boring after a while because you’re not doing anything but sitting there and looking out of the window or listening to music, which if you don’t have enough, you will run out and listen to the same things over and over

A sudden emptiness seemed to flow from the sweltering air and into our thoughts. The drive back from New York felt hauntingly isolated. Uncomfortable silence filled the yellow car. The silence was only to be broken by warm air whistling as Daisy’s white dress swooshed around through the gentle breeze.

The plane steadied as we flew above the clouds. My once jaw dropping view is reduced to a monotonous screen of white like a piece of printer paper. I closed the blinds and was now struck with proliferating boredom. My mind started to wander. When this happens my surrounding becomes distant and I am fully immersed in thought. I imagined landing in sunny San Diego, feeling the sun’s rays warm my body. Eating all the delicious food from the mess hall or buying my favorite ice cream, homemade pistachio almond drizzled with hot fudge and caramel.

As soon as the door opened, the heat hit me. It was like putting a hot iron in front of my face. But it felt even worse as there was a slight wind which pushed the heat towards me. My body was surrounded in a blanket of heat and I even started to sweat slightly. My uncle told me to wait by the lift as he went to collect the car so I wouldn’t have to walk as far and drag my suitcase along. While I waited, I took time to look around at the surroundings. I could see mountains which stretched towards the clouds and the airport behind me. There were a vast number of people walking around from their flight looking drowsy and with no energy. The frequent red double-decker bus also came and a few planes flew above my head. I didn’t even have to look, but I could hear the planes departing and arriving. The planes all looked the same in the sky, big and white with some sort of logo. During the wait, I took a few steps to take away the cramp. Although I had trainers on, I could feel and see that the floor was new. The concrete looked

The airport in Los Angeles was crawling with travelers, dragging their luggage and scurrying across the terminals like ants in a massive nest. Jackson, my nephew, had no idea that he was meeting in Los Angeles; he thought we would be meeting in Seattle, just as we usually did. I wondered if he would notice the palm trees and the stifling heat in the middle of December and know immediately. With these thoughts wandering my head, I sat impatiently by the terminal where his plane was supposed to land.

I woke up from my nap when I felt a light tap on my shoulder by my brother, Alex. He told me that it was time for the plane to begin its descent so I gathered my belongings and adjusted my seat until it was upright. As the airplane began to descend, I was filled with excitement and enthusiasm. I could feel so much energy rush through my veins as my ears popped and I finally heard the flight attendant say, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Singapore Changi Airport!”

My journey the day I left my home country in search of a better life was not as pleasurable or exciting as I expected. Although it was not a long flight, the accumulation of unexpected vicissitudes during the trip made my dream of traveling an absolute nightmare. Not only my sadness to be leaving my family behind, the uncertainty to fly alone and for the first time, or my inexperience with the procedures at the airport contributed to this calamity, but even my neighbor on the plane added his bit of sand in the affair. All this situation was such traumatic to me that I even considered never daring to fly again.