Getting Adjusted After Moving to a New Country Essay Example

How would you feel when your parent suddenly tells  you that you will leave  home? Especially going to another country. I felt disheartened and worried. I had to leave my friends and relatives. I never knew how strongly I was attached to my culture, relatives, and friends until my father decided, we were going to America.

I am a very introverted person. It was very hard for me to even chat with a neighbor who I have known for a long time. So, imagine moving to a new country and adapting to a new culture, new people and a new language. It was almost impossible for me. As my dad had planned, we booked our tickets and had to leave the country during my final exam. 

On 26 February 2016, we arrived in New York. It was my first time riding an airplane. I was nervous but it went well. The second day, my cousin took us to the Twin Towers. I learned many things, such as how to buy a metro card and how to swipe it to ride on the bus. I also learned that if the train doors have opened, let people get off before you get on. I learned that the system and good social manners make miracles happen. In my country, people would not care about others as long as they could get on the bus. It makes a horrible crowd where people push each other. This is a first thing that I liked about America. 

The next chapter of life began when my uncle took us to the high school. It was a school specifically for those kids that who have just came from a different country. The principal evaluated the transcript and decided that I could enroll in 11th grade. The school teachers knew that we were not good at English. Our classes were typically integrated speaking, reading, and writing. Most of the class were especially about how to speak English fluently without fear and how to increase our vocabulary. However, I felt shy to talk to my teachers and my classmates. I felt under pressure to graduate on time nevertheless. It would have embarrassed my dad if I stayed in the same class twice. So, I all i did was go to school and do my homework. I hardly participated in class unless my teacher forced me to do it. I never tried to make any friends, and nobody bothered to talk to me. One Bengali student came in the last semester. Finally, I had someone to talk to without feeing embarrassed. She helped me to overcome my fear of talking to the students and the teachers. She also helped me with my homework. Fortunately, I graduated on time with good grades. 

We stayed at our uncle’s house in the bronxfor 4 months. My uncle said, “If you want to survive here, you all have to work.” My father is 52 years old. He cannot work full-time. So, He got a part-time job. My mother could not work because she had to take care of the house and cook. My younger sister is 15 years old. She is too young to work. So, I must work part-time to support my family. It was so hard to find a job because I did not speak English well. I found a job where you do not have to speak English properly. I went to school in the morning and worked at night.  If I did not come to this country, I would not able to feel the freedom of working at night. You would be surprised that only 33.04 percent of women work in Bangladesh. It is not because girls do not go to school but because they do not feel safe to work or the girls’ families do not allow them. 

Now, another challenge came in front of me to get into a good college. When I asked my cousin about college, she said, “It is better to go to a community college as you are not that good at English”. I applied to community colleges and 4 years colleges. My luck was in favor as my cousin said. I got accepted to many 2 years colleges and some 4 years colleges.  Is it only my luck or do I have some qualities to get into the 4 years colleges?  

On June 2017, I finally decided to go to Lehman College. I chose that college because I heard it was good for the nursing program and I have always wanted to study in the medical field. In my first semester, it was so hard to cope with other students.  Even though the classes just started, my classmates were ahead of me. They already knew somethings that I had to catch up on. Basically, a homework will take me 30 minutes while my classmates did it in 10 minutes. I felt so depressed and blamed myself for daring to come to this college. It was better to go to a community college. But my friend always helped me. She always inspired me. She always told me everyone felt the same way you were feeling. College is hard for everyone. So, I did not give up. 

In my third semester, I still do not feel comfortable to talk to my professors. I am still afraid of my Bengali accent and feel they might not understand me. Now, I understand my fault: it was all my fear and self-assessment. Professors and students do not care about any accents. Students and professors are so helpful here, they will help you as long as they can. Now, I feel comfortable with the college. If I finish college, I might get my dream good job that makes my parents proud.

Now, I understand my dad was not wrong: I was wrong. I was only thinking about the present and friends. If I never came to this country, I would have never understood my freedom. In my country, I might have finished college and gotten married. Now, with other activities, I also want to develop my career. I want to make my father proud because he always thinks about my future and brought us here.