About seven billion people live in this world, each beating heart goes through their own changes, whether it’s becoming a military personnel or simply running away from your home and experience the world through your own eyes. My significant change came at an early stage, without any hesitation my parents sent my sister and I to Nicaragua for 4 years. After we landed the only person I knew that spoke English or was from Miami was the flight attendant itself, after that it was my sister and I against a family that we briefly recognize.…
Alex, and that tree. I’ve lived in two completely different places. For the greater part of my life, in Ecuador, and for the last 4 years, in California. Moving away from the place that I spent my entire life at, has really changed me. I had to leave all of the people I love and everyone I ever knew, and move to a strange place where I had no one except my mom, dad, and brother. Moving to California made me become a new person, a different person than who I was in Ecuador. In the following Vignettes I talk about what has made me into who I was in Ecuador, and what made me into what I am today. I talk a lot about the trip to California, and the first few months here because it was a very traumatic experience for me that pains me to think about even to this day. I’ll always miss the person I was in Ecuador, even if I don’t remember who I was. But I will always love the person that I am today and will continue to better myself and live the best life…
I came to the United States from Colombia when I was just 3 years old. I was brought into the country of bright opportunities because like every other parent, my mother and father wanted what was best for me. My mother had to give up her dream job in Colombia, which was being an accountant for an essentially important company, in order to facilitate my well-being and open up the doors for my future. As the years progressed, I began to acquire both languages, English and Spanish, but there was a point where I became tongue tied and had to assist in speech therapy. My parents would talk to me in Spanish at home but in school all I would hear was English, my mind was extremely confused to the point that I made my own language by using both tongues in one sentence.…
It is by giving back to the community that raised us that we truly understand that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. I loved the Ethiopian community I lived in and I was always the first to give back to the community, given the chance. But the community I grew up in wasn’t the best in the slightest. It was filled with sick, homeless people on the streets waiting for death to do them apart. It was a havoc of garbage that resulted from accumulated littering; it is to be said that the people in the community didn’t care at all about the environment they were living in.…
Getting asked “What school do you go to”, I answer “North Cape”. They then look with a confused smirk and ask “Where’s that”…
It was Monday, May 30th, 2011. My family was driving home from a hotel we were staying at in Virginia, after going to Kings Dominion for my birthday day the day before. On the way home, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast. During our meal, we got a call from my aunt telling us that my uncle, my mother’s brother, was in the hospital. Only a few days before he had moved back to Guatemala without saying goodbye to me. Once we were back on the road, my mother continued to get phone calls updating us about what was happening down there, as each call came through we all became more and more anxious wait for the answer. Then it came it just wasn't the answer we were hoping for, my mother began pushing on the walls of the car as if they were…
The last day of school came quickly and I had to say goodbye to everybody. This was pretty sad for me because of how long I knew everybody at school(I’ve spent at least a thousand hours at school) and this made me be bonded to a few people at school. The whole experience was sad but it wasn't nearly the hardest part of the transition of countries. The last weeks Me and my family went to chicago for one last time. It was around this time that I started to get anxious about my move to Poland. I would sit in my room and think to myself What if I don’t like Poland? What if I can’t learn the language there? What if the school there isn't nice? What if it will be a bad place to live? Looking back on it I think that the reason that I had much more anxiety moving to Poland then I did when Moving to Chicago was partly caused by the fact that I had grown up a bit in the two years that we were in Park…
“Wow! I did not know there were black Americans”. During the month I was in China, I heard this or a variant of it jokily said to me numerous times. I never took offense to it since I understood most of the media from America that came to China featured individuals who did not look like me. Furthermore, for those Americans who had come to China, they were mostly white and had come for business. While in China, I was able to share my experience as an African-American; I always found enjoyment sharing my experiences and it seemed to me those around me found enjoyment learning about a different side of America. With me sharing my experiences, they were being able to understand the diverse nature of the United States.…
Indeed, moving to United states was not easy as I expected but it was fun and exciting. I did not know before why my parents wanted me to face new experiences, but now I understand that everything they were doing and still doing for me is an expression for their love to me. I still remember the day when my mom cut my hair, I was sad, I did not know why she wanted to do that, but today I realize that it was an experience of love, she wanted to show me that I was not making right choices when I used to go out without telling her. When I got here to United States, I did not speak english and I felt as my life started over because I could not talk or do anything since the…
Now, as adult, I look forward to my next move in life. Each new town or city I live in has its own special place. I do not get sad anymore leaving one house to move into another. I look forward to the change of environment and look forward to the new opportunities to learn about the area, including the people, culture and new foods. As a mom, I make each new move an adventure for our girls. I remember that feeling of losing something. In actuality, I was gaining. I want to make sure they see it that way, too. Life is an adventure, it should not be…
Life is a box of surprises. You never know what is going to happen or where you are going to end up. Everything can change in seconds just like when a tornado destroys a city in the blink of an eye. I was a lovely and happy girl living in my native country. I never thought that someday I would accomplish my dreams in another country. Due to economic situations, my family moved to the U.S. It is hard to live in a country where you were not born. Learning the culture, language and lifestyle were some of the struggles that I had I had to face when I first came to the United States.…
There have many occasions in my life I consider very special. It seems that although many events happened long ago, the clarity of them all remains fresh in my memory. I will remember them the rest of my life, but the event that I cherish the most is the day I moved from the Lagos, in South East Nigeria, to the United States.…
I was raised in a rural location of Cuba that provided me a place to live free of conflict and it was full of peace and harmony. My biggest obligation was homework, a life without stress. While attending to Elementary School I moved to USA and my life changed completely but in a good way. I had to learn a new language and adapt to a different culture. It took me some time to…
One significant experiance in my life has been my dad being in the Millitary. My dad was in the Millitary for a short time of one year before he decided it wasnt for him. But in that one year we moved two times. We moved from my hometown of Anacortes Washington to California. I started school and things werent that bad, I made friends and had a park right across the street from my house! life was good. But then we had to move again, to Arizona. We moved from sea side California to the Arizona Dessart. This is where I was really challanged, I didnt make friends as easy as the first move. We moved from a spacious town house with a park to a tiny appartment with no backyard. I distanced myself from my parents and everyone else in my family, I…
Imagine a dry barren country split into two, an aftermath of over two decades of civil conflicts wreaking havoc and forcing the country into a north and south side. Imagine a country where its own government commits genocide against its own people in hopes of ethnic cleansing. Imagine being born into a small village vulnerable to vicious attacks from your own people. Now imagine calling that country “home.” Your only chance to escape this plight, is if you won the lottery and you and your family are given the opportunity to live the American dream. Believe it or not, this country exists. This horrific country is Sudan... and I am Sudanese.…