History Suffering Essay

One of the greatest challenges my family had to overcome was moving to the United States from Greece. Although Greece was a beautiful place to live in, it was financially unstable and law was not being regulated. It was no easy transition as it took years to adjust and during those years my family stumbled across extreme hardships. I was too young to remember the beginning of this journey but through the stories I’ve heard my mother and sister speak of I can tell that it was quite a roller coaster ride, speaking about it is a cathartic experience for them so I try not too bring it up but can never help but engage in conversation when they do speak of the events that occurred during those difficult times.

September 1999, It was late in the afternoon on a sunny day, my sister was sitting across the TV and our cousins to the left of her when they suddenly felt the house shake. At the moment they thought it was a big truck that passed by because we lived right under a big factory that constantly had trucks passing by but moments after listening to the news they’re advised that an earthquake has hit Greece and seconds later everything started moving and shaking at an uncontrollable rate and things were falling off shelves.  Everyone ran outside the house as they forgot me in the bedroom and shortly after my sister realized I was still stuck in the crib, my cousin Nikola went in to get me. My parents at the time were at the U.S Embassy in Greece.  Ironic how the most beautiful day turned into such chaos and every ones thoughts and emotions were in disarray.

Aside from a 5.9 magnitude earthquake having just hit Greece and make a mess of homes, towns and the city, two great things did happen that day. My parents won the lotto to come to America and also got approved to get their VISA’S to enter the United States as a family. Just as the start of our beautiful afternoon that seemed too good to be true once the earthquake hit, our journey was no different. What seemed to be the beginning of something beautiful ended up putting us through years of suffering and excruciating emotional pain.

My parents had to go years without seeing their family. Being unable to see their siblings and their parents was hard on them because as a family we were all very close and always had family gatherings back home in Albania. We lived in Greece, my uncles and cousins in Italy but every year we would gather together in Albania where my grandparents on both sides lived and we would enjoy festivities such as traditional weddings, family road trips, horse back riding, hay picking and bon fires at night while playing volleyball. It was something we all looked forward to. Unfortunately after we moved to the U.S these family reunions ended because everyone refused to gather without us.

Upon our arrival to the United States we landed in New York and as we were about to land the adrenaline rush was unbearable due to the excitement we had all acquired because we couldn’t believe that we were finally getting to see the big apple and not just see it but actually settle there and hopefully call this place our home. Back in Greece when everyone would watch movies and see the New York City sky scrappers they would only dream of seeing them in person and here we were looking down at Manhattan from an airplane carrying us straight into our dreams…or our worst night mare. Upon arrival at JFK we were greeted with so much joy but of course the beginning is always beautiful.