Advantages Of Being An Immigrant

If you are faced with the necessity of moving away from your home, leaving behind family, friends, colleges, your hometown, and many of your personal belongings, the chances are that you would feel a large array of emotions. You would feel the nervousness that climbs up your skin, sending tingles to your fingertips, an uneasy feeling gnawing at you from the inside,­ refusing to go away for anything, the bitter­ fear of something going wrong and all of your hard-earned­ efforts going out in vain, and the weary grief of losing nearly everything you've ever had. With all of these haunting emotions, it is no wonder why settling into a new country can be so hard. Not to mention how stressful it could be to try and ­fit into a new environment socially and financial. However, here are a few ways to get ahead of the difficulties of being an immigrant:

­­­­ To begin, one of the most useful things you can to to begin building a life for yourself in America is to learn English, get social,­and become naturalized.

Using programs such as Rosetta Stone can help you accomplish this task. ­Once you learn English, you can start broadening your social horizons. Having many friends in a community is one of the best things you can o to help yourself fit-in. Your new friends may be able to recommend social gatherings and popular attractions to help you ease into this new place as well. Having American friends can also help you pick up on the feats of America, which will make becoming naturalized a lot easier. Being socially active and naturalized could help you in the future to earn a career and

such.

­­­­ While you are first settling in, you should encourage your children to be very active in the community as well. It is a proven fact, according to a study in Georgia University, that "...students coming ­into ­America from ­[other] countries will make better progress in their social activeness if they ­come­ in confident-willed with an open mind. Should they isolate themselves in the beginning, it would be much more difficult to ease into [school]..." By encouraging your children to do well in school, join sports, participate in clubs, ext. you provide helpful benefits for both you and your kid(s). For example, your children have more opportunities to meet new friends and try new things, while you can meet some of the parents at games, practices, club meets, ext. and make new friends and become more familiar with the social environment.

On a more serious note, you need to know how to settle in financially. The economy is likely very different in America than in an immigrant's home country, so it could be very difficult to keep your head above the rushing waters of debt in the beginning. According to Fitting In by David Melark, the worst thing an immigrant could do when coming into the States is getting into debt. Melark says that it is difficult for an immigrant to get out of debt, even if it is a small one, because they are most likely already under a lot of stress. Digging out of a well of debt takes a lot of emotional stamina, and Melark says that its best to avoid at all possible. Despite popular belief, David recommends immigrant to get a "survival" job (a temporary line of work to help pay the bills). Note that whatever your survival job is, you shouldn't settle for it just because moving up is frightening and the survival job pays the bill. Of course, if it's something you like to do, then by all means, continue. However, I recommend going to college and then moving on to a better, higher paying job that makes you happy. Though college can be a challenging trial for immigrants, there are programs such as financial aid that could help you through. Once through college, you can move on to the job of your dreams with a nice salary and a nice home. Just remember, the world belongs to those who have the courage to take it.

To sum everything up, it's not easy coming into a new place. It can be stressful, frightening, challenging, and nerve-wracking. However, change can be an excellent thing, too. You may find that America is the place of your dreams once you get settled in. So no matter what you do, weather you come here wealthy or poor, confident or nervous, excited or reluctant, you have the power to take charge of your life and climb to the top. America is a free county; you're free to be all that you can be, so do it!