Life changes in matter of seconds. Imagine waking up to news of moving to a different country as an innocent young child, leaving friends and family behind and moving to a country thousands of miles away. I can still remember how terrified I was of leaving my homeland and coming to a new, different environment. Going to a place where I had no friends or family was the hardest thing ever. My friends and family members were very upset and they were crying because I was leaving. I was trying to be strong and hold back my tears. I had no choice of staying or leaving because I was only 11 years old and I had to leave with my parents. They had to leave the country because they owned a clothing store and it was no longer performing like it used to. They wanted to leave Egypt and live the American dream. My life went through a complete change because I moved to a new country, had to adapt to a new culture, learn a new language. After spending 11 years in Egypt, I moved to the United States, an environment that was completely different from the one I came from. However, Life goes on. My pare...
There are many challenges that one must face as we go through life. I have faced a few myself, however, none proved more challenging than moving from my country; Jamaica, to the United States and subsequently moving to the state of Wisconsin. Deciding to leave behind family and friends is the hardest decision to make, however, there are a few things that I was not prepared for that made the transition more challenging than expected. Moving away from all that is familiar culturally, socially and economically can be even more of a daunting task than imagined. There are things that are taught to us by our parents and others that are more dictated by our environment than anything else, so when I immigrated to the United States I had three major challenges to overcome.
There are various changes that can occur in an individual’s life. Some variations are very little and would not affect your lifecycle very greatly. Nevertheless, other events could be very significant and could change a person’s entire life, such as marrying, giving birth to the baby, or losing someone special. The important event that transformed my life is coming to the United States of America to get education and to study. When I first arrived in this country, I comprehended that an incredible change would happen in my life both mentally and physically. After living more than one year in the United States, I definitely believe that moving to the United States is an advantageous change for me. This change offers me an opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle as well as a new way of thinking that are significant for me and the most importantly it provided me a better education in a simple way.
The United States has often been referred to as a global “melting pot” due to its assimilation of diverse cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. In today’s society, this metaphor may be an understatement. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of foreign born United States residents nearly doubled from 20 million to 40 million, increasing the U.S. population from almost 250 million to 350 million people. With U.S. born children and grandchildren of immigrants, immigration contributed to half of this population growth. These immigrants, consisting of mostly Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, have drastically changed the composition of the U.S. population. In 2010, Asians and Hispanics made up 20 percent of the U.S. population, in contrast to a 6 percent share of Asians and Hispanics in 1970. It is predicted that by 2050, the share of immigrants in the United States will increase to one half of the entire population. With this rapid increase in diversity, many citizens have opposing views on its impact on the United States. In my opinion, an increase in immigration does contain both positive and negatives effects, but in general it provides an overriding positive influence on America’s society (“Population”).
The first move stopping immigration decided by Congress was a law in 1862 restricting American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 restricted the immigration to the U.S. of people entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival. Alien skilled laborers, under these laws, were allowed to enter the U.S. to work in new industries. By this time anti-immigrant felling rose with the flood of immigrants and in this period the anti-Catholic, anti-foreign political party the Know-Nothings, was already born. The problems and issues are still much the same today, as they were 150 years ago, but as the numbers and facts show the immigration problem is growing worse and worse.
Nobody really likes moving. At least I know, I don 't. Moving to another place you have no idea about is tough. When I was 14, my father petitioned my family to move to the United States. Upon hearing that news from my mother, I was devastated. Devastated that I have to leave the place that I grew up, leaving all my friends and family. I have to travel 10,000 miles across the glove to live in a place I have never been to. I have very little idea about United States before moving, I have only seen this place through screen, watched movies such as "High School Musical." From what I have heard and seen life seemed so much easier and happier in the US, but once I stepped out of the plane, I knew it would not be even close to what I have pictured in my mind.
“They are willing to sell themselves in order to find a better life for themselves or
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.
Immigration has changed the demographics of the US. It has contributed to a massive growth of the US population. The inflow of immigrants has added a good mix of various ethnic and racial groups to the US population. The immigrant groups have had a tremendous impact on the social, cultural, economic and political landscape of the US.
Since I still wanted to make friends, I desperately continued to try to break down the barrier between my peers and I and I slowly began to succeed. As I began making more and more friends, my experience in the U.S. started to become a happier one. Although there were still many things about American culture that I did not understand, I chose to face my fears head on which lead to a more content life. I realized that no matter where you are from, what obstacles you had to face, or what social class you belong to, coming to America gives you an opportunity to build a new and better life for you and your family. The journey to learn this lesson was not an easy one, but I’m glad I learned it.
Many people in search of a better life and future for their families have immigrated to America. America is an extremely diverse nation with people from many different races and ethnic backgrounds. America is viewed as the melting pot of the world as throughout generations, people from all over the world have immigrated to America with similar goals. Immigration is a process most Americans have a close connection with. It is extremely likely that someone in your family immigrated at some point in time. Origins can be distant and for this reason the process and reasoning for immigrating can vary greatly.
Moving to another country and starting a new chapter of life are two of the most difficult things in life. Nobody wants to change, including me. In my country, Vietnam, people usually says that "if you have a chance to live in the United States, your future will be so bright because living in America is living on a field that is full of gold." When I was young and still as a child, my parent told me that we will be leaving Vietnam and moving to the United States in the future. When I heard that, I was so happy. Four years ago, my family and I moved to the United States with the hope of having a better future and the happiness of family reunion with my grandparent. On the way to United State, we always thought, expected, and hoped that everything will be okay and fine. After few months we have been living in the new country, problems started to happen. My parents could not communicate and understand people who spoken English because they had no chance to study English back in Vietnam. In Vietnam, they only used motorcycle. When they came here, they had to learn how to drive cars. It was really hard for my parents to find jobs since they could not speak and understand English, could not drive either. Everything was new and we had to learn and start everything from the beginning. It was really hard for my parent, including me.
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.
In village, there was no access to proper healthcare where we had to walk for hours to go see a doctor. Pregnant women would often succumb to death while delivering at home. There was always fear for life due to civil war and political turmoil, where bomb would go off in public places and cities would be attacked. My father was a government official, so there was always an extra risk. We moved to city, and my family of four lived in a rented single-room apartment. My father came to the US for studies, and my family had to stay 4 years away from my dad. Then, I came to the States with my mother and brother. That was a very massive change. It was a very different country and a very different culture. It came with challenges of its own, and it took couple of years to deal with the
Even before arriving to the United States, the fear I felt was not having the familiarity of home (St. Lucia). Moving to the U.S meant that I had to start my life all over again. This time it would be without the unwavering support of my family and friends. Whether I succeeded or failed in school was entirely up to me. It wa...
There was one incident in my life that I can remember when I was moving from one cultural environment to another and it wasn‘t easy to get use to the new way of life. Ever since I was born until the age of seven I lived my life in Poland which was a fairly small country located in Europe. Living there was a complete different thing when compared to life here.First of all there was a different language spoken which was Polish,there were different holidays, for example we didn’t celebrate your birthday but instead we celebrated the time when your name was give to you which was considered more important.The means of transportationused by the people were the train or the bus and not everyone had cars because many people weren’t able to afford them because of their cost.Today it is much harder to find jobs in Poland then it use to be, even when someone is fresh out of college with lots of degrees and time in ...