Why I Came To America

Even though my parents provide the roof above my head and the food on my table, I would consider myself the unofficial head of the house. Being the only child and the sole English speaker in an immigrant family, I have had to guide my parents through practically everything. When we came to America ten years ago and did not know anything, my parents turned to their friends and community centers. As I learned more English, my parents stopped depending on friends and translators and started putting all the letters on my desk. I got used to explaining the phone bills and our health plan options, and writing their checks and filling out my mom’s EDD forms became second nature. Getting used to all of it, though, does not make it easy. I remember

Growing up in a hot and dusty town doesn’t seem so crummy, but when gang affiliations and facing death at every corner; a whole new concoction is created.

I came to America as an exchange student from Vietnam at the age of fifteen. When I decided to go alone to an unfamiliar environment, no one thought it was a wise decision. My friends advised me to give up on that intention and focus on learning in Vietnam. My parents are afraid that I will be in danger and nobody will take care for me. But I want to experience new cultures, and especially this is the beginning of my dream to study at famous American universities. Participate in this program allows me to not only build personal relationships when studying and interacting with Americans but also to learn about US culture from a local perspective. Apart from me, there are cultural exchanges students from other countries such as Japan, Spain.

I am struggling to making a living. Mother has sent the message that Aunt Clarida has died due to the disease spreading across Europe. I am scared. I don't want to lose my family. I want them to be safe. I have made the decision to go to America to save my family from the deadly disease. I have to do this for my family. For their safety. For a better future. For them.

Every time I drive through streets of Washington DC, I see the homeless people sleeping on the side walk, benches, and stairs ways. I always wonder what can cause someone to end up like this? The most likely reason that comes to my mind that lead to this situation is not having a purpose in life. I believe having a purpose in life is the fuel of motivation to do anything, without it there is no reason to try. Today I have a wife, a house, and a decent fulltime job; which five years ago I wouldn’t even see in my dreams.

I have collected many beautiful memories since I came to America, whether some memories were beautiful or some were fade. I still clearly remember how I felt nervous the first day I arrived in America.

Coming from every part of the world to witness greatness. There’re so many reasons why people come to America and I had the chance to meet a few, but most recently one from Germany, and his name was Robert. You were just one of 60 million plus people who visited here through 2012 to 2013, and you happen to land in the same area I’m from. If you end up coming back to visit I want to give you some advice about America. There’re a few things I want to tell you about starting with places to visit, spending time with your host family, and table manners. Most of all, though, not having pre-determined expectations about where you're staying.

I went to the United State four years ago. At first, I was really feel out of place. The weight of not knowing English and not having any friend heavily pushed me down to depression. I did not talk to anyone. Everything in my life went downhill. I got bully in high school my first year here. Because of how I look and how I talk, people would make fun of me. It went really bad that one day. I went to school at 7am as usual, and went straight to my locker. There were a word that written in sharpie on my locker. It said "FAGGOT". My face went blank. I did not know how to react, but stood still for five minutes. After that incident, I did not trust anyone. I completely "shut down". I started to self-harm and it was not healthy at all. However, feeling the physical pain made me forget how cruel this world is.

In fact, after I got married, I immediately traveled abroad. I have spent four years in USA and recognize a lot of rules, habits, religions and culture values.

Robert Beverly expressed that he felt only those in a poor financial situation would dare to venture into the uncertainty that is the “New World”. He feels that a person of good wealth would have no need to leave Europe in search of new lands. Additionally, he points of the unneeded difficultes one would face traveling to and living in America.

As an immigrant to the United States for more than twenty years, I deeply fell in love with this country and proudly call it my homeland. After graduating from the George Washington University with a Master of Science degree in Computer Science, I strive to contribute to the society, the country, and its people while building my own American dream.

I worked in video game company in Korea for 5 years and the video game that I mainly developed was an online game. One day, I wanted to know how video game companies in another country develop video games and wanted to make my own video console game. So I decided to go to Canada because there are some of my favorite video games in Canada and I wanted to learn English.

Have you ever traveled to the country which has different culture? I immigrated to the United States seven years ago. When I arrived here, I found that language, culture, and food are different from my hometown. These differences made my life difficult for the first time in America. First, I started to solve the problem of speaking. In America, the majority of the people speaks in English. Language is the most important. In addition, Speaking of fluent English is easier for me to find a job. The solution whom I found to solve this problem was to go to school. I started to learn reading and writing at Community College of Denver. When I started to learn how to read, I had many problems because of my pronunciation. I tried my best to read correctly,

As of right now, I am on my flight back to America and I already miss South Korea. Many thoughts run through my mind; thoughts of happiness because I will get to see my friends and family, thoughts of sadness because I’m leaving my favorite country, and thoughts of bitter sweetness because the friends I’ve made here I won’t be able to see in a long time. This has been one of the best months of my life and now that it’s over I really have no regrets. Of course I did not get to do every single thing I wanted to do but why rush things when you are enjoying every last minute of traveling. This trip has definitely determined my future travel plans. I have already decided that I am going to come back to South Korea. Korea

If I ever came across a muslim I would ask him (her) about what he (she) did before they came to America. I would ask them about their religion and then I would tell them about my religion. We would probably talk for a little bit about many different things. So if I ran into a Muslim I think God would want me to talk to him (her) and get to know them.