“What should I do? Maybe if I tell them I really don’t want to move to California they’ll change their minds? Maybe it’s too late to change minds since we're already here? Why did we have to move so far?” All these thoughts were popping through my head as I stepped onto the plane, “We’re we really doing this? Were we moving to California?” I keep on thinking about all these things. “What was gonna happen tomorrow at school?” My thoughts were like a highway. The cars were each of my thoughts and the cars were zooming by me over and over again. All I think about is what lies ahead. Tomorrow was my first day at school and I felt like I was gonna puke. I had to pinch myself three times just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. “I wish I could turn
back time,” I say to myself. It was night time and I couldn’t fall asleep. Even though I didn’t want to go to California, I knew it would be something I wouldn’t regret, but yet I felt way more timid than usual. “This is gonna be a long night,” I sigh. I toss and turn to try and get comfy. Suddenly, my eyelids get heavy and I fall asleep. Then, there I was in California, lying in my bed. The sun had risen with excitement, while I lay in my bed thinking about how my first day at school would be. I didn’t quite know if I was nervous or not. All I knew that it was my first day of school. “Rise and shine! Quickly get ready, I’ll make you eggs while you get dressed. We have to be early to school. Now let’s get a move on!” says my mom with excitement. My mom looked happy and I was sort of too, but I was more nervous than ever. Sure, I have moved before, but not across the country! I quickly put on my blue, and green lace shirt and some jeans. I gobble up my eggs. After a while, I walk into Brookside, I see kids. Lot’s. “Hello, is this Ava Dermott?” says a woman. She had short blonde hair. “Welcome to Brookside!” I notice the lady is standing next to a girl. She had long brown hair. “I’m Mrs. Grossman and this is Natalee. She’ll be your desk partner and show you around.” The woman turns around and me and Natalee start to talk. It was almost like I wasn’t new because we got along just fine! School was actually pretty fun! Everyone was nice and helped my way across the school! Soon school was over. My cheeks hurt badly from smiling, but I couldn’t stop. I felt proud of doing something this big. I felt accomplished. I knew that when I did this, it would feel good, and I was right! “Elle? Can I say something?” I ask. I was so happy I made a new friend, and I could tell that we were gonna last a while. “Yes?” Elle replies. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, she looked a little curios. I let out a big sigh, “Thank you for being my best friend!”
Many folks go their whole lives without having to move. For them it is easy; they know the same people, have loads of friends, and never have to move away from their families. As with me, I was in a different situation. I grew up my entire life, all eighteen years of it, in a small town called Yorktown, Virginia. In my attempt to reach out for a better life style, my girlfriend and I decided we were going to move to Shreveport, Louisiana. Through this course of action, I realized that not two places in this country are exactly alike. I struggled with things at first, but I found some comforts of home here as well.
I think I would be a good student at this school. I knew from visiting that the school itself held a warm, home-like feel to it. The academic and home-like environment seemed like a great place for me; I think I might be able to excel here. And here I was again, just a week later, except cold, sopping wet, and disoriented. Why was I even out in the rain? I wondered. I couldn’t seem to remember what I was doing before. My memory was foggy until the moment I stepped through the door.
Once we decided on a day, I began to wonder what it was going to be like to go back to a place that I had not been in 7 years. As we approached the building, memories started to flash through my mind, what it was once like to not have a care in the world. From that point on, it was just thought after thought of how things used to be. How the cafeteria seemed like the biggest room ever, the playground was a place of endless amounts of fun, and getting a “pink slip” was the worst punishment in the world. Going back to a place where I spent most of my childhood caused me to reflect on how things had changed since I left there, and what type of person I had become.
Before you begin reading the main narrative of my essay, I want to let you in on some details about my life and myself. I was born in Manhattan, New York and when I was about twenty two days old, I boarded a plane with my parents on a journey across the United States to the city of San Francisco, then to the town of Grass Valley. This is where my grandmother and grandfather resided. They had been telling my parents that the city of Manhattan was no place to raise a child and that we should move to California and live with them. Before making this life changing decision of leaving most of their friends and loved ones in New York to come to California, my parents sent me off to live in India with my uncle. Keep in mind, I was about the age of two when this all happened. The opportunity of leaving me with my uncle gave my parents about a year to think things over and pull themselves together, in efforts to properly raise a child in a country that was so
Growing up in a small mid-western town was exactly like a lot of people imagine it to be. The years kept passing by, but it seemed like nothing ever changed. We went to school, played sports, chased girls, worked on our friend’s father’s farms, and talked about how we couldn’t wait until we graduated so that we could finally move out.
Moving from Wisconsin to California wasn’t an easy decision. Despite the first few difficulties I experienced, I learned to not be afraid of change but to take it and mold it into an opportunity for me to grow. The act of selflessness, as I’ve seen throughout my life, has prepared me to contribute to UW-Madison.
When you are a military spouse, moving frequently is common, which makes finding a place to call home difficult. Colorado was where I was born and raised. However, Texas was home to me. I enjoyed the warm weather, and how I was only a fourteen hour drive from home. While living in Texas, I learned a lot about myself and grew as a person. I had a great career opportunity managing a 240 unit apartment complex, I had good friends and enjoyed everything Texas had to offer.
They call California the Golden State. This is the state that your wildest dreams can come true. Coming from Iowa this is exactly what I was hoping to come and find out. All I have wanted to do since I was in junior high was to come out to California and live my dream. Now being here, experiencing what California is really about; I now know what everyone was talking about. I can come out here and be a totally new person. I can reinvent myself into whatever I want. I can be nice, mean, funny, depressed, or I could even change my name and be a completely different person. Along with this, the dreams and weather have brought me to the best state in the United States, California.
My memory of strolling up and down St. George Street in St. Augustine is more than just a cherished flashback, it’s the start of a new life. Prior to moving to Florida, both of my parents were in the Navy, resulting in our family having to move all around the East Coast frequently. When it was revealed that we would finally settle down in Florida, our first visit would be none other than the oldest city in the United States, St. Augustine. This memory of St. Augustine is so important to me because it piqued my interest in history, it gave me a chance to spend time with my mom, and I was able to witness my first sunset.
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.
My ancestors moved from Canada to America, they started living in the northern areas and worked very hard to earn food. When I was small the life was very good, all the kids of the community used to play and enjoy the time, but as I started growing up I realized that life is not just about playing around. Most of the people in my community do not know the actual meaning of life and they have spent their whole life inside a specific area and with limited knowledge. I started to find opportunities to study and learn more things that no one knows. In my quest for knowledge and curiosity to know the unknown I learned many things.
Emma grew up in Birmingham, a fairly large town in Michigan. Where her father and her grandparents had lived. She grew up in a fun, always exciting, house where her older sisters always brought new surprises. The Lewrys were very happy in Michigan, but soon after Emma turned four her mom grew tired of the rainy, cloudy weather, and they started looking for a new place to live. They had California in mind, because they visited Disneyland so often, and they decided to look there. Emma’s parents bought a house, and the family moved out there as fast as they could. When Emma got there she started at CDC preschool and met a group of new friends. She loved the California life. Then, she went to Solana Vista for all of her four years. In second grade, her best friend moved away, which created a big shift in her life. She had only her one best friend and no others. She felt alone. Then halfway through the year she opened up to new friends and that’s when she was the most happy. She was also was working very hard, and it paid off. In third grade, the principal asked Emma to represent the Solana Vista in front of the California School Board. Emma received an award for being responsible and a good student and said a few words about how she worked hard to receive the award at the meeting. This motivated her to never give up because she now knew tha...
I haven’t always lived in Michigan. Before I moved here in in fifth grade, I lived in Tennessee, Florida, and Wisconsin. Because I have lived in many different places, I have experienced and learned many different things in many ways. In Florida, I had a pool and was 15 minutes from the beach, and thus lived a life of carefree swimming and outdoor time. When I moved to Wisconsin there was a stark change in how my days played out. Gone were the times of carefree swimming and shorts year-round, and in came the days of snow-shoveling, learning how to put on a jacket and boots, and waiting for the knock on my door in the morning to tell me that school was cancelled because of snow - this meant I got a full day to spend sledding with my brother.
I moved to Vancouver at the start of August, and apart from taking a gondola up a mountain, I hadn't really done anything adventurous. This was about to change when I booked a Tinggly zipline tour in Whistler, a popular mountainous area near Vancouver, for my boyfriend and myself. Tinggly is all about giving you a unique experience, and this is exactly what I wanted.
The bell rang and immediately froze. It was my first day of fourth grade and I was terrified. It wasn’t only that I was scared of attending a new school but also that this was my first time attending an American School. I was born in Delano, California but we had moved to Mexico when I was about 1-year-old and didn’t return until I turned 8 so all I knew to speak was Spanish. Now I was in a total new country and I didn’t understand anything around me. Everything looked different and I wanted to go back home so bad but I knew I couldn’t.This was my new home and I had to get used to it. That summer my mom signed me up for school and I was so excited because I had always loved school. I was so happy to finally go back to school because