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My Story - Student #23
Spanish
El recuerdo más bonito de mi infancia fue la época en la que era navidad y todos los familiares estábamos juntos disfrutando de este lindo día. Lo que más extraño de mi país son mis abuelos, mi papá y mis hermanos. Mi escuela era grande, habían dos sedes. Mi escuela se especializaba en el área de la salud. Salí de mi país en busca de un mejor futuro y por cumplir el sueño de estar en el país que tanto anhelaba conocer y vivir.
El día en que me dijeron que nos iríamos a vivir a los Estados Unidos tuve muchas emociones encontradas. La emoción que más resaltó fue obviamente tristeza de dejar en mi país a mis abuelos, primos, hermanos, a mi papá y a mis tíos sin saber cuando los volvería a ver. El dia de la despedida fue el dia mas duro para mi mama y para mi ya que nos estaríamos enfrentando a un nuevo comienzo nosotras dos solas, ese fue el ultimo dia en que recibimos el último abrazo de abuelos, tíos y primos. Mi viaje hacia los Estados Unidos comenzó en Medellín y nuestro destino México donde nos quedamos 5 días y allí conocí un poco de esta linda ciudad.Al día siguiente tomamos un avión y nos dirigimos a la frontera en ciudad juárez donde tuvimos demasiadas experiencias; adicional a esto estuvimos seis días encerradas en un centro de detención donde no sabíamos si era de día o de noche, lo unico que habia afuera donde los oficiales era un reloj de pared, cuando salimos avisamos a nuestros familiares que habíamos salido de ese lugar, nos llevaron a un refugio donde nos trataron de manera muy diferente, hasta la comida era diferente; allí nos dieron información de vuelos para nuestro destino, para ese dia no habían vuelos entonces mi tía nos hizo una reserva cerca del hotel para el dia siguiente salir hacia el aeropuerto y tomar nuestro vuelo a New York. Eran las 4 de la mañana nuestro vuelo salía a las 5 con destino a Houston para ahí hacer una escala de 3 horas para esperar nuestro vuelo a la ciudad de Nueva York, al llegar nos recogieron mis tíos, después de salir del aeropuerto fuimos a comer a un restaurante Colombiano ya que por 6 días no habíamos comido bien y estábamos enfermas. Después de comer nos dirigimos a Hampton Bays donde nos estaban esperando más familia.
El proceso de adaptación no fue tan difícil como creía, ya que los profesores y compañeros fueron muy amables. Fue algo difícil por el idioma y el hecho de saber que recordaba mis días en el paso por la frontera.
Lo que pensé el primer día de escuela fue que cómo me iba a ir ya que todo era nuevo y como decía anteriormente un idioma que en el momento no comprendía muy bien. Lo más difícil de vivir acá es su idioma, ya que obviamente mi primera lengua es el español por lo cual eso es lo único que me ha sido difícil de vivir aquí.
Esta experiencia ha cambiado mi perspectiva para mi futuro, porque yo antes pensaba que las cosas eran fáciles y todo se conseguía fácilmente.
El consejo que yo les daría a las personas nuevas que vienen a este país es que se esfuercen cada día por conseguir las cosas paso a paso, no mirar el proceso de los demás y aunque no es fácil con responsabilidad, dedicación y respeto a las normas podemos asegurar un buen futuro en este país. Mis planes para el futuro es poder graduarme de high school, ir a una universidad, trabajar y conseguir las cosas que quiero. Yo creo que si es posible graduarse de high school pero eso está en cada persona, porque si tu pones de tu parte y haces un esfuerzo grande sabes que lo puedes lograr. Después de high school yo quiero ir a una universidad y estudiar una carrera. Lo que a mi me gustaría estudiar es para ser maestra de literatura. Para llegar a esta meta yo planeo esforzarme lo suficiente para poder cumplir el sueño de ser maestra.
English
The most beautiful memory of my childhood was the time when it was Christmas and all the family members were together enjoying this beautiful day. What I miss most about my country are my grandparents, my father and my brothers. My school was big, there were two campuses. My school specialized in the health area. I left my country in search of a better future and to fulfill my dream of being in the country I longed to know and live in.
The day I was told that we were going to live in the United States I had many mixed emotions. The emotion that stood out the most was obviously the sadness of leaving my grandparents, cousins, siblings, my dad and my uncles and aunts in my country without knowing when I would see them again. The day of the farewell was the hardest day for my mom and me since we would be facing a new beginning on our own, that was the last day when we received the last hug from grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. My trip to the United States began in Medellin and our destination Mexico where we stayed for 5 days and there I got to know a little of this beautiful city. The next day we took a plane and headed to the border in Ciudad Juarez where we had too many experiences; in addition to this we spent six days locked up in a detention center where we did not know if it was day or night, the only thing that was outside where the officers was a wall clock, when we left we told our relatives that we had left that place, they took us to a shelter where we were treated very differently, even the food was different; There they gave us information about flights to our destination, for that day there were no flights so my aunt made a reservation for us near the hotel so that the next day we could leave for the airport and take our flight to New York. It was 4 o'clock in the morning our flight was leaving at 5 o'clock to Houston to make a 3 hour layover there to wait for our flight to New York City, when we arrived my uncles picked us up, after leaving the airport we went to eat at a Colombian restaurant since we had not eaten well for 6 days and we were sick. After lunch we headed to Hampton Bays where more family was waiting for us.
The adaptation process was not as difficult as I thought it would be, as the teachers and classmates were very kind. It was a little difficult because of the language and knowing that I remembered my days at the border crossing. What I thought on the first day of school was how I was going to get along since everything was new and as I said before, a language that at the time I did not understand very well. The most difficult thing about living here is the language, since obviously my first language is Spanish, so that is the only thing that has been difficult for me to live here.
This experience has changed my perspective for my future, because before I thought that things were easy and everything was easy to get.
The advice I would give to new people who come to this country is to strive every day to get things step by step, not to look at the process of others and although it is not easy with responsibility, dedication and respect for the rules we can ensure a good future in this country. My plans for the future are to graduate from high school, go to college, work and achieve the things I want. I believe that it is possible to graduate from high school, but that is up to each person, because if you do your part and make a big effort, you know that you can achieve it. After high school I want to go to a university and study a career. What I would like to study is to become a literature teacher. To reach this goal I plan to work hard enough to fulfill my dream of becoming a teacher.
The most beautiful memory of my childhood was the time when it was Christmas and all the family members were together enjoying this beautiful day. The day I was told that we were going to live in the United States I had many mixed emotions. The emotion that stood out the most was obviously the sadness of leaving my grandparents, cousins, siblings, my dad and my uncles and aunts in Colombia without knowing when I would see them again. The experience of having emigrated to the United States has changed my perspective for my future, because before I thought things were easy. The advice I would give to new people coming to this country is to strive every day to achieve things step by step, not to look at the process of others and although it is not easy, with responsibility, dedication and respect for the rules we can ensure a good future in this country. My plans for the future are to graduate from high school, go to college, work and achieve the things I want. After high school I want to go to a university and study a career. What I would like to study is to become a literature teacher. To reach this goal I plan to work hard enough to fulfill my dream of becoming a teacher.