Changes occur everywhere in the world; every second, every minute. Most people generally frown upon changes. Changes can bring fear, doubt, isolation, or even pain. When I was very young, I used to like changes. Changes were something to look forward to; it was fun to meet new people, to see new places, and to learn new things. At the age of thirteen, my family told me that we were moving to America. At that time, I paid no attention to their words and thought it would be a fun trip, but little did I know this was going to completely alter my perception of change.
These changes that happened overnight will remain unpleasant memories and learning experience throughout my life. On February 12, 2008, I panicked, stressed out, and almost fainted because it was the day of leaving my sweet, motherland, Africa. It was also the last day I ate fresh food without any chemicals in them. Anyway, my family and I left our house at 1pm and arrived at the airport at 3pm because the airport was far from home. We sat and waited for our flight for fifteen minutes, but I was still stressed out plus my phobias.
The greatest fears I had were aerophobia and xenophobia. When the plane arrived, one of my brothers said “Don’t be afraid, everything is going to be alright. ” I didn’t respond to what he said. I just looked at him and his face felt sorry for me. Nevertheless, I almost stayed at the airport because I couldn’t get on the plane. When that happen, my older brother said “young lady, you need to get on this plane so we won’t miss the next one” In response, I said to him “if you really care about moving to another country, then why don’t you carry me?
So he carried me and got on the plane. When I got on the plane, I sat by the window and kept my eyes close. I couldn’t eat or drink anything at all. When the plane took off, one of my brothers was sitting next to me and he asked “are you really going to keep your eyes closed until we arrive? ” “I am going to keep them closed for as long as I can,” I responded. A few minutes later he woke me up and said “you have to see this, it’s the Red Sea! ” I opened my eyes quickly and looked down without any fear. When I looked down, I didn’t see any “Red” sea.
I asked him angrily, “How come it isn’t red? ” “Actually, Red Sea is the name of the sea, but it’s not really red,” he replied. “I really thought that the Red Sea was supposed to be red, but it isn’t red at all,” I said to myself softly. Consequently, I took four flights to get to Newport News and I was very tired from sitting. When I arrived in Newport News, I smelled different, weird smells and I almost fainted because of those smells. I use to think that America was going to be like paradise, but I actually didn’t like it when I first arrived.
When I arrived, I didn’t like the weather because it was so cold, and I was not used to that kind of weather. However, I spend a week without eating because there wasn’t fresh food, and I used to eat only fresh food. I was relieved that I overcame my first fear, aerophobia. However, the very first issue I had when I arrived in America was communication. Back in Africa, schools were not required to teach English, which left me very little knowledge of the language. However, all I knew was writing English correctly and a few basic sentences such as, “Hello, how are you? or “My name is , what is your name? ” I spoke French and other three languages but I didn’t know how to speak English at all. I only learned these few sentences as the basics.
After two weeks, I started to think a lot about my life in Africa, the people I had left behind and most of all, my childhood best friend who has always been the pillar of my life. Instead of letting all my thoughts and bad dreams haunt my life, I went inside of myself to find strength and to convince myself that I could change all that and be in control of my own destiny. The first step was to learn English.
With the help of my brother’s friends, I enrolled in an ESL program before I started going to school. I attended that class for a month to improve my English. On my first day of school, my fear, xenophobia started, but I overcame it at the end of the day. I was scared on the first day, but I enjoyed it and wasn’t afraid anymore. In the end, I loved the school that I was attending and the teachers treated me like their own daughter. I earned good grades, never failed any class, and I was shocked because I didn’t know that I was going to overcome my greatest fears.
In addition, I did not move to the U. S in search for a better life, but for a better education instead. In conclusion, changes occur in everyone’s lives, and those changes can be pleasant or fearful to some people. As for me, coming to America and leaving everything behind, learning a new language and studying long hours were the factors that determined who I am today. All those life experiences helped me have a clear idea of how difficult it is to start a new life in an unfamiliar country. However, I became more resilient to hardship.
