Coming to America
I always used to do what I wanted to. I never held a job let alone apply for one. I went out on weekends and never listened to my parents. I would go with my friends to clubs and party until the sun came up. I slept all day and never did chores around the house. If there was something I wanted, I had to get it and I always made my parents buy it for me. Every day I had breakfast in bed. I was spoiled but it evened out by my getting such good grades in school. This may appear to be a dream for most teenagers and a few adults but for me it was reality. All this changed 3 years ago. March 11th, 2000 is a day I will never forget. That was the day my family and I stepped on American soil. It was definitely the scariest day I'd ever experienced. My fairy tale life had come to an end. My mother(Maria), father(Jon), and sister(Diana) landed in Detroit, MI where we were immediately taken by the police. My initial thought of the situation was that we were going to jail but it was a customary procedure that the police do that to all immigrants to get fingerprinted and issue immigration papers. Dad comforted me throughout the whole procedure reassuring me that this happens to everyone tr
I knew working these jobs wouldn't sustain a decent life so I decided to go back to school. I bugged my dad for weeks to enroll me into high school. I wanted to get a foundation for an American education and by summers end I was ready for school. By December, I had earned enough money to buy a car. I bought a Dodge Neon. When I showed my dad, he was happy and I knew he saw how ecstatic I was and he gave me money enough for half of the car. Now I was driving back and forth to school and work. She is the teacher they provided me for English. Through her I met many students from other countries that were a similar situation as I was. The best thing to happen to me in high school was that she spoke Romanian. What a relief to be able to express my feelings in my native tongue. Ms. Arnold helped me with my homework and taught me how to speak proper english. She was a second mother to me. Throughout the two years I attended high school, she was always there for me. I was a straight A student and she was so proud of me especially when I graduated. They were our true family here in the United States. They've been here for us through th emost difficult time. We can count on them every second of every day if we need anything. To this day our families still celebrate birthdays, holidays, special events with each other like we've known each other forever. They have treated us how we treated everyone else in Romania, with open arms. We had to wait another 3 hours until our next flight to Pittsburgh, PA and once we safely arrived my mother's sister Elaine was waiting for us. Finally! Someone we could talk to who knew exactly what we were saying and feeling. Being a busgirl was such a demanding job. I never saw a girl in this position. I knew why after I started. There are so many people who eat our every night of the week. My job was to clear the tables of all dishes when the meals were finished and get it ready for a new party to sit down and eat. The dishes were heavy and stacking plate on top of plate only made it worse. Then I added to that the weight of metal utensils along with any cups and small plates which made the super-heavy dishtubs even heavier. After gruelling busy nights of bussing I hurt my back. I told the manager and he realized he couldn't keep working me like a dog night after night. He made the waitresses start carrying their own load and clean off their part of the tables. Even though the damage had already been done to my body, making the waitresses pick up more work ea
Some common words found in the essay are:
Mom Diana, Ms Arnold, COMING AMERICA, Youngstown OH, Dodge Neon, United They've, Detroit MI, Pittsburgh PA, Wally Alexe, mom diana, fast food, family moves, money buy, ms arnold, english skills, job people,
Approximate Word count = 1712
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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