When I Came To America

On September 4, 1999, I was born in Victoria Jubilee hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. My family comes from the inner city of a country that is poverty stricken, politically corrupt, with an excessive murder rate. Despite the many flaws, I was taught to love my culture and respect others. My family came to America to have a better opportunity in life.

In 2011, my parents and I came to America. The choice that my parents made had benefited my academic career. I have a better education here and schools in America helped me become a better 2learner. Education is an important part of one’s life. Without a good education, not everyone can achieve their lifelong goals that want to achieve someday. When I was living in India it was much more different studying there. The teachers in India, would not be as tough as the teachers here. Some teachers do not give any effort in wanting to help their students succeed. Eventually, my parents decided to come to America, to get a good career and help me succeed . When I came to America, it was an escape from the education that I was having before.

The reason I came the United States is for study. Same as millions international students, I choose American as a place where I attend college, there are two reasons make me made this decision. The first reason is that America has one of the best higher level education in the world. United States not only has best universities of the world, but also the whole nation’s universities have a better academic performance than rest of the world. So that I came to America for study in order to enhance myself. The second reason of I came to America is the competition in my country – China is intense. In the past year, there are 765 million students graduated from college, since the population of college students is super large, find an idea job in China

It can be very challenging to move away from the country you grew up in. Recalling all those moments of laughter, excitement, and adventure can only make one more and more depressed. I was born in Port-Au -Prince, which is the capital of Haiti and raised in Gonaives. I spend most of my early childhood in Haiti. I only knew my native language, food, music, and history. I was only familiar with my native holidays and celebration. Therefore, the day my mother came to me and told me I had been awarded my resident card, and we had to move to America. My life changed forever.

When I first came to the United States of America, that's like in "sticky situation" for me.

I am a U.S. born citizen. My parents moved to the United States in 1984 without knowing anything about this country. Looking for a fresh start and new opportunities, my parents settled in Houston. With hardly knowing any English, my parents knew this was the place to make dreams become a reality. Luckily, I had older siblings to look up to whenever I needed help. Like Lahiri, I was trapped in between two different cultures while I was growing up. At home, I only spoke Spanish, but in school it was English. My habits and customs were different than others. Life as an immigrant’s offspring can be very difficult. As I grew older, I allowed myself to open my eyes and see the beauty of being an American from Hispanic descent.

All people seem to want the same basic things out of life regardless of race or religion. Universally, people want a good job, a healthy family, and a chance for their children to have a better life than the one they have. Families that already possess these things, whether through their own hard work or merely by way of inheritance, rely on the existing power structures within society to ensure that their future happiness continues . But what do people who do not belong to existing power structures turn to in order to secure these things for their families and children?

From a very young age, I contended with countless setbacks, but the vitality placed on our income at home was the leading factor to my family’s problems. I remember when my parents chose to buy me a new pair of running shoes over paying the electricity bill or when they stayed up all night making tamales to sell so they could afford to pay for medical bills. There never went a month without my parents constantly arguing over the monthly rent or not having enough to buy groceries for the family. I grew up with five siblings in addition to two cousins who were sent from Mexico by their parents and placed under the legal guardianship of my parents. Naturally, learning to adapt to unfortunate circumstances was not rare and I quickly understood

In 1995, my family left Thailand as refugees and came to the United States. My Parents and I did not know how to speak English upon arrival, which limited our self-reliance and independence. Luckily, my older sister and her husband had been part of the first waves of Hmong immigrants to come to the United States and they had already acclimated to American’s culture. For the first couple of years, my brother-in-law acted as a translator and as my family’s personal guide to all things American. Of course, my brother-in-law wasn’t fluent in English, but instead, spoke a broken version of English which was adequate for taking us to the grocery stores and enough to teach us some of the cultural norms. This made the transition from the jungles of

My family and I came to America in the year 2003, and those few years afterward made me realized the tremendous amount of love my parents had for us. Although I was only three, I saw how my father worked long hours trying to keep a young family of five comfortable and safe. He taught me the importance of hard work and endurance. My mother taught me the importance of education. We came to America because due to her receiving a student visa to complete her Masters in Christian Theology and Social Work. She would come back to from long classes and pick us up from daycare. Although she was tired, she made sure that her family was fed and well. As soon as everyone was well, she would finish her homework. Her desk and computer were located in my

These generation of immigrants struggle with identifying with their natal language, food, maintaining a close knit relationship with their parents and culture on a general level. Most of the people I interviewed agreed that their parents had played an extremely significant role in their lives. There was even evidence that that for the benefit of their children, parents tried to transmit cultural and familial points of reference to their children and embed them in a cultural social network of meaning (Sabatier & Berry, 2008). They stated that though while growing up there was an inherent desire to be like their parents, their parents took it into their own hands and upon themselves to micro manage their children’s lives. They basically dictated what their child did, who they got to hang around with and even made sure to deal with any form of

I arrived in United States of America four years ago from Ethiopia. I lived all my life in small city named Hawassa. Being born and raised in a small African country, Ethiopia, I didn't get the chance to grow up with American culture and tradition. Everything is different back home starting with having fifty students in one class. Everyone almost compete with each other trying to be number one. Having no experience in America, my first week in senior high school was different to me from the class schedules to lunch times. In Ethiopia, we didn't go to class to class every time we have different classes. We always stayed in same class throughout the year and only our teacher come in to teach. Everyone in the school had same lunch time. Education

When my parents came to the United States of America it was difficult for them to get use to the norm of America. I was not born here either; I was born in Kenya and came to America at a very young age. Having friends that were born here in America and not understanding the culture differences we have. Most of my friends understand but it’s difficult for me to balance my religion, culture, and the education system as a minority here in American. I feel like I have to compete with people that were born here. My spoken words help me learn how to balance the social institution system. Back home in Oromia known as Ethiopia now the government is taking over the land that belongs to the Oromo people. Spoken words is a powerful tool that could make

Nowadays, education is one of the most important elements that help people to achieve the success. I have studied in Viet Nam, and I have failed in my studying. In Viet Nam, I used to think education was not essential to my life, and I did not plan anything about my academic plans. I failed in my university, and I worked in the local company in the downtown. Everything was fine, but I could not be promoted without a degree. I went to the United States of America to restart my studying. Therefore, I have planned my educational plans for next three years seriously, such as perfect my English skills, find a scholarship, and transfer to my dream university.

Parents have their beliefs and practices when rearing their children, they share their customs and beliefs with their families to guide and support their families. Parents hope to share their practices from generation to generation, however when immigrants relocate other to countries they adapt to new ways of living (Two Parents, 2009). Immigrants relocate to provide their families with financial stability and better education. Some immigrants face obstacles when they relocate to North America, such as language barriers, discipline issues, and little involvement in their child’s education. Many of the immigrants first language is not English, their language barrier may hinder them from communicating with employers and classroom educators