Coming to America

Date: 03/19/2017

Coming to America

Coming to America is the best decision I ever made. When I came to America with my husband, I was just nineteen years old. I was just out of Annapurna Higher Secondary, high school in Nepal. I didn’t know the real meaning of life like all teenagers do and had to make the decision to come to America because my husband’s family was already here.

When I left Nepal, I felt emotional, excited, and anxious. I felt emotional because I was leaving my family behind and wasn’t sure when I would see them again. I felt excited because I was achieving the thing that many people dream of but just a few succeed in getting for real. I was anxious because of fear the unknown like, how I’m going to survive? I had all these feelings mixed up and was sad for myself when I left my country, Nepal, to come to America.

When I landed at the airport in Newark, New Jersey, I felt overwhelmed because I finally arrived in my dream country after the twenty-four hours of a long, tiring flight. In addition, the shock of seeing so many different people was an oddity because of all the different nationalities. For example, African women wearing weird color like, green and yellow headband, shirt and long skirt and some were covering their head to toe with black dress and the different languages people spoke. All these things were weird for me because I never had been to a multi-cultural country.

At the airport, my husband, Ramesh and I were met by our resettlement agency case-worker, Steven. He drove us to my mother-in-law’s house. Upon seeing my husband’s family after a long period of time, I felt a sense of relief. Suddenly, everyone started asking questions.

My mother-in-law asked, “How was your flight?” I answered, “it was good.”

Again, she added, “Who picked you up from the airport?” while welcoming us with delicious meal she