Clara Gothberg Is From Gothenburg, Sweden

1312 Words3 Pages

Clara Göthberg is from Gothenburg, Sweden. Last year, she became an exchange student and came to Murphy, North Carolina. I knew nothing about Sweden before I met her. Word travels quick in that small town, so everyone knew her from social media before she even arrived. I spoke to her some before she came, and actually went to the airport with her host parents to greet her. I really thought she had a strong accent from the videos I watched of her. After watching them I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to understand her. Her accent sounded very strong, but once I met her it actually wasn’t near as strong as I originally thought. Since I wasn’t able to meet with Clara face to face we had to face time. I didn’t expect her to be as open, to my friend Allison and me, right away as she was. I thought that at first it would be very awkward, but I was completely wrong. Post-interview Clara’s initial expectations were very high. She expected a lot out of the United States. She grew up watching all American movies, so she expected it to be like what she saw, especially high school. She always thought America did everything big, but wasn’t sure. Once she got her she said that she found out that everything was bigger than she thought. She expected everyone at school to have their own groups, and that girls have drama. Clara assumed that America doesn’t know much about other countries, and figured that it was because people weren’t interested in learning about them. Later she found out that that wasn’t the case. Growing up listening to things in a foreign language, watching shows and movies in a foreign language, and then actually getting to learn the language really motivated her to come to America. Before she came to America she never ... ... middle of paper ... ... people can move to another country and be okay for a year or so without any of their family. Being four hours away from mine right now is hard enough. Also, it makes me curious to know if all of Sweden’s teenagers can just go and do as they please as Clara had said. That to me is such a huge difference, because here in America most people that live with their parents have a curfew, and if they don’t they still have to tell their family where they are going. With Clara coming to Murphy it not only taught her a lot, it taught myself and people around a lot too. She made me realize that there is more than just the United States. I had never fully learned about any places across the world until she came. I actually learned a little Swedish while I was with her too. She taught me that I should learn about other places and eventually travel to them to see what it is like.

Show More
Related

  • Jane Goodall: The Primatologist of Our Time

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ause of her set out to do something she was passionate about. She gave her research a chance. Although it took more to authenticate her work, she did that in

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Book ' Of The Unknown Americans '

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    When they first arrived to the United States their only hopes were that they would have a better life and that there were better special education programs for Maribel to attend at Evers. Alma imagined that the buildings would look a lot nicer than they really were. The family was surprised that they could take things from the street that someone threw out of their house, but were in working condition. When they arrived they didn’t think that you would actually have to learn English to be able to communicate, but after going to stores and interacting with people they learned that they need to learn English if they want to live in America. They hoped that you could be able to afford anything in America by working, but based off of the money Arturo was making they learned that you can’t buy everyth...

    Read More

  • My Immigrant Parents

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    As I grew older, between the transition of a child to a teenager, I learned more about my family, its culture and background, and even some back story about how they came to the United States to the first place. Back at home, my parents are certainly not home for long and everyday we weren't

    Read More

  • Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to those who were unable to understand her mother’s broken english. She tells about her mother’s broken english and its impact on her communication to those outside their culture. Her mothers broken english limited others’ perception of her intelligence, and even her own perception of her mother was scewed: Tan said, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mothers ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (419) The use of standard english was a critical component to Tan’s assimilation into American culture. Standard English was an element she acquired to help her mother but more importantly is was an element that helped in her gain success as a writer. Tan changed her ‘Englishes’ (family talk) to include standard English that she had learnt in school and through books, the forms of English that she did not use at home with her mother. (417-418) Tan realized the ch...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Chinese Mothers In America

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    The four mothers in the novel have many opinions about America some are positive, and some are negative. The mothers appreciate the female independence, that America offers, They also strongly believe in the American Dream, that their children can be anything in America, regardless of whether or not they start poor, as long as they work hard and believe in themselves. It is clear ...

    Read More

  • Fences Against Freedom

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    Additionally, she stresses that the values of her childhood helped her to develop respect for different people. Her father influenced her a lot to feel comfortable just the way she is around her hometown; ...

    Read More

  • The singularly strange story of the English language in Puerto

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...s all she says pointing at the idea that English teachers have the power to remove the unwillingness and resistance from their Puerto Rican students by being models of successful avid English language learners and users themselves. This is done by inspiring a proud feeling to their students for their first language, Spanish, and promoting the use of this language first so that they can appreciate and better learn a second not because of a hidden political agenda, but because it would add more to their overall knowledge. This is a great way to see English, not in the political sense but in a broader enriching and fun way that can expand further more outside of what is Spanish and add a feeling of self fulfillment given the idea that the individual is more prepared to communicate to an even bigger amount of other human beings.

    Read More

  • Moving Away at a Young Age

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moving far away from family and friends can be tough on a child at a young age. It has its pros and cons. One learns how to deal with moving away from the people they love and also learn how to deal with adjusting to new ways of life. Everything seems so different and at a young age one feels like they have just left the whole world behind them. That was an experience that changed my life as a person. It taught me how to deal with change and how to adjust. It developed me from a young boy into a mature young man.

    Read More

  • El Norte Struggles

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Overall, learning about my father's struggles in California exposed me to the reality people today face from other countries. Hearing his story filled my heart with sympathy for my father. It's sad to see him go through PTSD with reoccurring flashbacks of his family abandoning him and going through problems we as a family would have to fight through together. Coming to California is not a easy for anyone, but it's a struggle worth

    Read More

  • Zora Neale Hrston Essay On Discrimination

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    Like many Chicanos, she developed a strong sense of cultural belonging. This is primarily due to discrimination amongst neighboring Mexicans, whites, and anyone in between. Latinos and latinas would attack her, saying “...cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language, you’re ruining the Spanish language” (Anzaldua 412). It was this ethnic struggle that drove her to latch onto her cultural background so strongly. In the personal narrative “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, Anzaldua states “When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours. We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture” (Anzaldua 419) when referring to the resilience of her native people. She states this in response to other cultural groups having abandoned their language, meanwhile they retained theirs. The Chicanos are aware of the harsh standards of North American society. By saying “When other races have given up their tongue, we’ve kept ours,” she means that even when other ethnicities have been pushed to eliminate their languages, her ethnicity stayed strong; they refused to cave in. Likewise, when Anzaldua states “We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture,” she draws pride from her culture’s ability to fend off even the most suffocating adversities. In this way, Anzaldua conveys

    Read More

  • Mother-Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ght to America" (31).  The trip she makes finally helps her to understand just where her mother was coming from, why she was the way she was, and she began to forgive her for all the misunderstandings they had.

    Read More

  • Immigrants and the American Dream

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    ything she knew back at home in order to secure that her daughters could live the American Dream. Many immigrants do not come to this country in order for themselves to reach the American Dream, many of the sacrifice thei...

    Read More

  • Lost in Translation: The Bilingual Education Dilemma

    1572 Words  | 4 Pages

    As she sits down, she starts smiling. It is an innocent smile, but I can’t quite understand whether it is for excitement or nervousness. She covers her face and giggles underneath her hands. She waits for me to start asking questions. She states her full name, Maricel Yvette Montalvo Rodriguez, moved to the United States from Puerto Rico in 2010 at the age of six. She was already fluent in Spanish when she came to the states . As she started school, she was enrolled into the English immersion program. The program was to help her learn English as a second language. She took the program for about two years to enhance her skills of speaking, reading, and writing English. After finishing the program, she was enrolled in regular classes. Maricel did gain enough skills to be a fluent English speaker but, she lost her ability to read and write in her native language. She finishes talking, and stares at her friend.

    Read More

  • Mount Rushmore Research Paper

    349 Words  | 1 Pages

    Before her class, I took Spanish because it was necessary to graduate. It never seemed real to me because basically everyone in Fairport, NY speaks english. Obviously I recognized that people spoke it. Yet, I never fully comprehended that I was capable of surviving off the language. She made it real by telling personal stories

    Read More

  • Moving to a New Country!

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was a beautiful, sunny day in South Florida. I was six years old, playing by the pool with my new puppy. I loved swimming in the pool almost every day after school. I also enjoyed going out on our boat after school or crossing the street and going to the beach. My father came home one evening with some interesting news. Now, I do not remember exactly how I felt about the news at that time, but it seemed like I did not mind that much. He had announced that we were going to move back to my birth country, Belgium. I had been living in Florida for five years and it was basically all I had known so I did not know what to expect. I had to live with my mom at first, and then my sister would join us after she graduated high school and my father finished settling things. I remember most of my earlier childhood by watching some old videos of me playing by the pool and dancing in the living room. It seemed like life could not get any better. However, I was excited and impatient to experience a new lifestyle. I realized that I could start a whole new life, make new friends and learn a new language. Belgium was not as sunny as South Florida but it has much better food and family oriented activities. Geographic mobility can have many positive effects on younger children, such as learning new languages, being more outgoing, and more family oriented; therefore, parents should not be afraid to move around and experience new cultures.

    Read More

More about Clara Gothberg Is From Gothenburg, Sweden

Open Document