My Immigration Experience

off, after 5 long months of fear & uncertainty of what her life was going to be like, she finally found a job in a retail store, working at minimum wage and getting paid under the table, meaning that she could only accrue in cash. This was just a stepping-stone that will lead her to reaching her dream. For the first two years of working on the retail store, she worked extensively amount of hours during the day, approximately 10 to 12 hours, about 6 days a week and sometime even 7 days. In the midst of those years, she assisted my parents with bills at home and she saved enough money to commence college. Luckily, Miami-Dade County allowed immigrants to go to a community college, so with this grand opportunity she took initiative & attended Miami
My academics as a student was mediocre, & lot of it had to do with the fact that when I witnessed my sister not been able to use her scholarship, I got discouraged and I idiotically told myself, why I should I try to get good grades when there is no reward for an immigrant? This became the narrative during my final years of high school, and I spent most of my time being foolishly wasted by playing video games and hanging out with my friends. When my graduation came, I ended up graduating in 2005 with a 2.3 GPA, and as low as it was, all I cared about is that I finally got over with school. Then reality hits me like a freight train, after one month of doing nothing after graduation, some of my friends that were U.S. citizens were bound to attend college and others had attained jobs. I couldn’t bare the fact that I was going to be left behind, so I traced my sister’s steps and began my journey into the adulthood, though the only difference between my sister and I, was that she knew what career she wanted and I didn’t. My first job, came with the assistance of my sister, she helped me get a job in a retail store selling men’s clothing, working at minimum wage. After working there for a year, I knew that it was time for me get a raise, so I took the initiative and requested my boss if he can provide me a raise, his response: I’m sorry but I can’t give you any raises because of your status. In my head I told myself, is this how I’m to be living my life working at a low-end job, and getting paid minimum wage? As negative as that though was, I was not going to let the immigrant circumstances dictate my life, so I immediately began