Coming To America

About 20 years ago my parents came to the United States from Mexico in order to give their children a better life. As I near the end of my high school career I realize now that what they wanted for my siblings and I was a fresh start from poverty and the opportunity to a higher education. While my family and I have faced numerous hardships in the past few years, we have found ways to overcome them and make the best of what we do have. Currently, I live in a single-parent household with a younger sibling.

My most critical moment of thinking came as I was deciding to leave Dallas and move to Philadelphia. My husband received a lucrative job offer in Philadelphia right after our engagement and we both knew that a long distance relationship was not for us. He had finally found a good position in the Field that he was passionate about but he wouldn 't budge if I decided to stay in Dallas. Even though I had no desire to leave Texas, I would never have wanted to be the one responsible for him giving up a wonderful opportunity.

Alondra it's my name, I am seventeen years and two months old and I come from a Hispanic/ Latino background . On October tweenty on the hospital of San Juan Morelia Michoacan Mexico at seven thirty at night after twelve long hours of labor I was born. I was given the name Alondra because of a telenovela my big sister loved to watch. When I was a year old I had to go to Mexico City and live with my grandma from my mother's side, since my big sister got hepatitis and my mom had to take care of her.

Yes, Luke 's experience apply to me in someway. It is always difficult for people to adjust in a totally new country, where there is different language, culture and lifestyle than their own country. I too faced difficulties in traveling to U.S and adjusting myself in a totally new new environment. There is a vast difference between Indian and U.S culture. I too led a very secured and conservative life in India, where I was always around my parents.

With the whir of the airplane’s engine in my ears, my seatbelt fastened, and my window shield up I saw the city blur into the runway and fall from beneath me. My home was falling away from me, slipping through my fingers ever so gently. No more warm island air flowing off the shores. No more curious spirits coming out to ask questions. No more familiarity, no more Okinawa.

My name is Ryan Rivera. There are many places and things I have been able to go to and see in my life. I will describe some of these things in the next paragraphs. Hope you will enjoy learning a little about my life. I was born in Texas in August 1999 while my mom was visiting her family.

The requirements of becoming a citizen in the United States have changed drastically over the last few centuries. Becoming a US citizen is a lengthy, stressful and expensive process. Parts of the process are based luck, while other parts are based on tests and interviews. Through history, the process of becoming a citizen has gotten harder and harder. Edwidge Danticat’s short story “Caroline’s Wedding”, the processing center at Ellis Island and the historical change of immigration laws show and compare the struggle of becoming a citizen in the United States.

When I first came to American, I lived in a homestay. Parents in a host family are very nice to me. Every day they will give me a rich breakfast with ice drink, but we usually drink a cup of hot water in the morning in China. Chinese people think that drinking a cup of hot water in the morning can prevent stomachache. Therefore, I asked my home parents to give me a cup of hot water, and they were shocked by my request.

Life gets tough at times and it did for me as well. I remember I was 10 when we decided to move to America. We moved in with my Uncle and we were extremely grateful to him for giving us space in his house to stay. My parents stayed in one room while me and my siblings stayed in another room. Since my uncle lived alone, he didn 't have enough mattresses for all of us so my siblings and I would use comforters to sleep on.

When I first came to America, I was 4 years old. I knew nothing about the country. The culture, the language, the customs, and the etiquette in America was something that I was never exposed to as I was born in China surrounded by my own people. All I have ever watched was Chinese cartoons and read Chinese children 's books, but nothing about America was ever introduced into my life. However, there was one thing that I was certain of about the country, that I will have a good life in the land of the free.