Coming To America: The Ups and Downs of Recent Immigrants

By: Anna Gogala
May 14, 2010

The United States of America has always fascinated people around the world.   No one has any doubts that the U.S is considered a free country where anything is possible. In connection with that, many people have been trying to come here so their dream could come true. Each country has different regulations and the U.S does not open its doors to everyone. Despite the problems that most immigrants need to overcome in order to cross the border, many of them have already tried and succeeded.

Numerous of those successful immigrants attend our school. Many ORT students came to the U.S from countries with different religions and cultural backgrounds. As different as their customs, they had lots of different reasons for leaving their countries.  Many came to work and some came to learn English. Others came to see a new place and meet new people.

One ORT student from Russia came to the U.S because she had the desire to change something in her life. She and her family are here, and the opportunity to live with them made her decision to move away from her country easy. She said that she didn’t have many possibilities for her life in Russia. She was excited about the opportunity to meet new friends, but is a little disappointed. She says “people here are a little ‘fake’ and I don’t find them honest, so it is really hard to make real friends.” Though even without finding good friends, she still enjoys the country and would like to stay here.

Some students from Korea are not as enthusiastic. They have many difficulties with finding a good job. Even if they have the right qualifications, their limited ability to speak English well decreases their chances for finding a job. They continue to work hard with the hope of improving their language so that their situation will change in the future.

Many of those who have come to the U.S were brought here by their families against their desire and dreams. Doug Geuk from Korea came here two years ago and says “I have kids, I would like them to be well educated and that is the main reason for us to stay here.” Another student from the Philippines wanted to make his wife happy. He said “I didn’t want to come, but my wife has dreamt about living in America and when we got the visa, we decided to try.” No matter what, everyone misses their country and many would like to return home. They miss their families, the environment, and the food. 

Whatever they decide, I believe that none of them will regret coming to the U.S. It is always a good to try new and challenging experiences. New immigrants often have to be very creative because they find themselves in new situations in many cases without knowing the language. In my opinion coming to a new country is a very good way to improve our knowledge of others culture, but it’s also a good way to get to know ourselves better and that kind of knowledge is very useful no matter where we decide to live.

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