American Dream

American dream

We all have dreams of different kinds. To some people, the American Dream is having all that is available in this life. It means having a great job, a family and a secure future. To others the American Dream simply means having the opportunity to prove their abilities. My dream was to move to the United States, go to school and learn the English language. In this essay I will be talking about my life back inÐ'...., the steps I took in moving to United States, my struggles living in another country and my accomplishments

My name isÐ'..... I was born in Ð'....l, in a city calledÐ'..., a small but charming city with a lot of history. I love everything about that city. The sound of the birds in the morning when you awake, the beautiful parks where people typically meet to talk, go for walks or just to watch the sunset. The smell of fresh coffee and fresh bread right from the oven was wonderful. All the old buildings always fascinated me as well as it brought lots of tourists from all over the country.

I grew up with the same friends, same classmates. We were so close, they were my family. We all attended the same school, classes, took the same after school activities and even shared the same passion to learn English. I took many English courses and felt I had a good understanding. However, deep down inside I knew that the only way for me to be fluent in English would be to surround myself with English speaking people. That would mean that I would have to take the next step along with my parents and I moved to America. They had always talked about moving to the United States, therefore I could go to school and learn English, but they never had the opportunity.

In the winter of 2001 something happened that altered my life forever. My parents decided to apply for a visa to come to the United States and we were approved. I was so content. I remember being in my room and screaming from the top of my lungs, that I was going to America, that my dream was finally going to become true. I was going to learn English. No words could describe my happiness. I could not wait for the day to come, I was just really thrilled.

After all those joyful emotions It started to sink in that I would be leaving all my friends and family behind, everything that I cherished the most. At that moment I started crying, my head was spinning, I felt like I could not breathe. I laid in my bed just gazing at the ceiling. After a while I calmed down. I knew that this would be a great opportunity for me one in a lifetime. I worked really hard on not letting my emotions take over me.

The day was finally here, December 21, 2001. I will never forget that day. Writing and thinking about it, makes me cry. On the day of my departure everyone gathered at my house to say goodbye. Saying good bye to my family and friends was one of the hardest things that I had to do. Everyone was crying and holding me so tight which made it more difficult to leave. No one wanted to let go. I did not want to let go but unfortunately it was time to go and make the long drive to the airport. I remember being in the car and looking back at everyone and wondering if I would ever see them again.

Our twelve hour flight to Boston did not seem to be long, because I slept most of the way. Even though I was sad to leave my family, I was looking forward to all knew things I was going to learn and see. It was snowing in Boston when we arrived. I had never seen snow, it was one of the most beautiful things that I had ever seen in my life. Everything was so different from Brazil, so modern. The buildings, the houses, the highways, things that I had only seen in movies, were right in front of me. I just could not believe my eyes. I thought I was living a dream.

We departed Boston and drove to our new hometown, Lawrence. When we arrive at our new house my cousin Ð'...was waiting for us. I was very excited to see a familiar face. He had been living in ...Massachusetts for five years and he offered to show us around the city. The house was really nice, it had three bedrooms, all with walk-in closets. When we approached the bathroom I noticed that we had a bathtub. I was really excited, because back in Ð'...l, only the higher class citizens had bathtubs. The living room, kitchen, backyard and everything was really beautiful, all so different.

The next day, my cousin brought us to the supermarket. He showed us the way there and explained how to get back home. He couldn't stay and wait for us, because he had to go off to work. My mother had a shopping list, which did not help at all. All the food products were so different, we weren't quite sure what to purchase. It took us more or less of four hours to finish shopping, it was so exhausting. To top it all off when we were heading back home we weren't able to find our way back and we got lost. My mother started panicking we didn't know anyone and we had to ask for assistance, but who? Then my parents spotted a police officer and obviously since I was the only one who could remotely speak a couple of words in English they told me to go over and talk to Police officer. As I approached him, I felt so scared, my throat started closing up, and I felt my stomach tie in a knot. That is when the officer asked me "Can I help you?" and the only thing I could say was "I am lose". The officer seemed a little confused, so I showed him the paper with our address.