Rewriting essay draft

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Sumaya Yeasmin

Professor Yahdon Israel

ENGL 23000

03/19/2019

Settling in a new place can be a difficult experience. Moving from one county to another

can be considered a bit easy, however, moving and settling in a new country can be rather hard.

More so when that country is the United States of America. I was merely ten years old when my

mother told me that we were moving to the United States. The United States! That was a dream

comes true. In my country, Bangladesh, it is considered a huge privilege to visit the United

States, let alone settling permanently in the country. I was very excited by the news and could

not wait to board a plane. I had never boarded a plane before, thus I was eager to even touch it.

Then it was time to travel! After we boarded the plane my eagerness shifted from the plane to the

country we are going to settle in. while on board several questions ran through my mind, like

how is the country like? Who is going to be my friend? Does the country have buildings like

those in Bangladesh? Then I fell asleep.

I was woken up by the voice of my mother asking me to wake up. Stepping out of my

first plane ride, I was welcomed by an unfamiliar surrounding which significantly contrasted

with that of my country. For starters, the place was serene; it was quite mesmerizing. Then I

came to my senses and realized that I was now in the United States of America. We then took a

taxi to our new home.

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I found American people to be welcoming, on a daily basis I would meet new people who

would often smile at me and greet me in a friendly manner. It was, however, difficult to interact

with them due to the language barrier. I liked my surrounding, finding it nice, I would often sit in

the balcony just to admire the sight of New York City, especially at night. It was an experience I

had never felt before, despite coming from the biggest city in Bangladesh, it was nothing like

New York City.

After settling in the country, it was time to enroll in school; this is when I realized that I

was different from the other children. I was eager about this, despite finding it difficult to adapt

to the surroundings and interact with people around where we lived; I thought that things would

be better in school. Since I am a social and talkative person, I was eager to meet and make new

friends in school. However, this was not as I noticed that friends were made only if could

converse with them. Despite learning a few English phrases, I found my friends' conversation to

be rather fast making it difficult for me to follow. Since I could only construct a few sentences in

English, most kids in school avoided me. I found this to be very demining. Some of my

classmates even loudly mocked me from the way I spoke and my ascent. I was very embarrassed

about myself. I one instance one girl in my class, Clare, was mimicking me, I really felt bad; I

cried a lot that day. This haunted me immensely and I started regretting why we moved to this

country. As the mockery persisted I grew ‘numb’ and ignored their insults and instead

appreciated their observation. When I told my parents how difficult it was getting along with

other kids in school they encouraged me to put an effort into learning English. My aunt would

help me in English; I remember she used to write me phrases which I presented wherever I was

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asked something. Despite this, it was difficult to be attentive in class. I was always the center of

attention in class. I would often work on other kids talking and making fun of me.

Despite most of my classmates insulting me and my ascent, there were some who accepted me

the way I was. Thanks to them I was able to learn and adapt however difficult it was. My friend,

Jeremy really helped me a lot in learning English. He would always encourage me to put more

effort as well as teaching some of the English phrases and words. The few friends I had ensured

that I was able to master at least an English word daily. As I progressed through my studies in

the country, my English improved significantly. After a few years, I was able to communicate

and express myself effectively. After mastering the language, things progressed smoothly, I was

now able to easily cope and interact with many people.

However learning the language, the American culture still had an impact on me. Coming

from Bangladesh, my parents did not entirely conform to American culture. At home, we

observed most of my parent’s culture, the food we took, how we addressed each other as well as

how we dressed. Despite not openly showing it, I could always feel like I was still the odd one

out since I did not entirely fit in the American culture.

The confusion imparted by the new culture and language impacted my studies. I was not

sure of what I wanted to pursue as my career. I was not sure of even the subjects to major in. one

day I decided to try out a class in computer science. After a few classes in computer science, I

realized that I liked the course. I liked it majorly because I had few friends in school, therefore

working with computers acted as a solace to me. My interest in computer science abundantly

grew and I made huge strides in the subject. Most of my classmates started liking me because of

the software solutions that I would regularly perform in class. This gave me something to be

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proud of; some of the students who disliked me because of my difficulty in language started

wanting to be my friends. I grew to like the country and the people, maybe because most of them

started to like me because of my achievements.

My passion in conjunction with available opportunity to learn boosted my interest in the

subject. In my homeland, unlike the United States, students have to pay for school fees which

limit most of them from furthering their studies. This, therefore, inspired me to pursue computer

studies which have been a huge model for the person I am today. Another motivation is that there

is an unmentioned rule in the country which required immigrants to work hard in order to

contribute to the economy of the country. Therefore, I felt that the only way in which I would

contribute to the economy of the United States was by putting an effort into my education to

become successful in my career.

In conclusion, moving to the United States is one of the difficult events in my life.

Flashing back I realize that for an immigrant to adapt in the United States with ease, they have to

learn the English language. My hard time, I believe was because I had not mastered the English

language which became a huge communication barrier. I had to struggle to learn new phrases

and vocabularies every day in order to aid my communication. Therefore, my determination,

interests, and willingness have ensured that my residents in the United States were made rather

easy. However, I think that I still have to work on learning about the American culture since I

think it is the only aspect which I have not fully understood. I am currently working on some of

the basic ethics, which I believe will make me grow as a person as well as aiding my success as a

student.

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