Personal Narrative: My Journey To The American Dream

My Journey

The American Dream has pulled me through 7000 miles of hardship and challenges. September, 2014 was the hardest month of my entire life. I was a junior in high school, just arrived from an entirely different country. Had no clue of how “high school” works. Since you were in kindergarten and until your a freshmen in college, you would be in the same school, was the phenomena in my previous education system. We would sit on one classroom for the entire day and the teachers would move around, according to the schedule.

I originate from India’s westmost state Gujarat. My parents live in Gujarat and decided to send me to America for a better education. I came to America on September 4, 2014 and life hasn’t been the same since. As everyone becomes 15 or 16 years old, they start feeling that they are old enough to do everything on their own and feel that they can live without their parents now. However, I felt that at first, but after I came to America, I realised that I am still not that old. I had to start making my own decisions. It was challenging and anxious in the beginning. It was either I took the right call or I learnt from my mistake.

In America I live with my Uncle and Aunt and their family.

Different people have different ways to approach situations. Even though my parents and uncle and aunt have the same background and ethics, their parenting is different. What may be important to my parents may not be that important to my uncle and aunt, and visa versa. This put me a very independent state and gave me an opportunity to make my own decisions. I have learned a lot on the past 18 months. My english has been improved exponentially since english is the only way to communicate with everyone in society.
The temperature in Gujarat is completely polar to the temperature in Chicago.

This changed my life completely. I was a outdoor person and due the extreme cold winters, I had to change to an indoorsy person. From playing cricket, I started playing basketball. The biggest factor that the temperature of our surrounds has on us, is the way we commute. Back home I could just walk or get a local cab or drive a scooter and I could do thing things on my own, whereas in Chicago, I would need a companion to take me to places. This may seem as a drawback, which it was, although it was a challenge to be able to transit around the city without a car. I used public transportation. I bonded with friends which were kind enough to drive me to

places.
Any society in the world is usually dependent on the local language. Even though language may be common among countries or states, the accent is always different. I have mostly studied in a english speaking school in India, but when I came America, I realised that I was actually different here. The pronunciations were entirely bizarre for me and the velocity of speech was like the speed of light. I couldn't understand most of the time and could never reply in such a manner. I knew I had to learn. Quickly. As I tried to blend in with the society: friends, classmates, teachers, I soon become a part of it. English is no longer a nightmare.