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Unit Six Research Paper

Decent Essays
Six is the number printed on the back of my high school soccer jersey. Six is the number of people who live in my home. And six hours is the time difference that separates my dad and me. My whole life has been divided between two continents. From birth to age fourteen I lived in Milan raised in a traditional Italian home. Freshman year my life was split apart when my brother, mother and me moved to New Jersey and left my father and our childhood home in Italy. I moved to America freshman year to be able to go to college and to make a life for myself that wasn’t possible in Italy.
Coming to the United States, I completely changed my path going from an international school with Italian and British curriculum to an all boys, Catholic preparatory school. I desperately wanted to blend in but the small accent you could hear when I spoke English exposed me as unique and my peers soon referred to me as the ‘foreign kid’. I learned to grow up quickly in
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But I was also doing it in a new, foreign environment without the guidance of a father figure. I watched dozens of fathers cheering on my peers at our soccer games, giving them advice after each half and just being there to share memories with their kids. I pushed away any thoughts of jealousy or sadness because I never wanted my mom to feel like her love and support wasn’t enough, but in the back of my mind I always envied what I never had. Living a double life is a blessing and a curse. I see my father once a year for two to three weeks at a time. The reminder of my Italian roots keeps me grounded, as it is the best and most true part of my personality. My Italian heritage is what I have always known; the language, the food and the culture will never dissipate from my heart. The Americanized version of me is stronger, more motivated and the perfect balance of Milan and New
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