When you think you have everything in life something unexpected happens and makes you start all over again. All my life it’s been ups and downs. From my early childhood back in my beautiful country Mexico to immigrate to a different land where everything is uncertain and new. From the language barrier, people from different backgrounds, foods that I haven’t tasted before, and many new experiences that I wouldn’t have ever thought I would live for. My new school was a place where I wanted to become invisible, kids were cruel and had no empathy for a girl who didn’t know anywhere else to go. Before coming to this amazing country my parents enrolled me in a boarding elementary school back in Mexico. It was a fascinating place where I spent most of my childhood. The school had beautiful gardens, a basketball yard, and a soccer field. Mondays was my favorite day of the week because I got to spend all week in this school. My dormitory had a capacity of 30 girls, the school had 5 sleeping dormitories which each had a capacity of 30 students. Two dormitories were for boys and three for girls. We woke up every morning at 6:00 AM, did chores, shower, and got ready for breakfast. We had breakfast at 8:00 AM, and right after we had class. Classes ended at 2:00 PM, and right after we had lunch. The dinning building was wide enough that fit 6 long tables, in which each table had a capacity of 20 students. We were never alone; there were adults that were always supervising us all day just like a daycare. Right after we finished lunch, we had craft workshops. Five to choose from starting with sewing, carpentry, cosmetology, dancing, and mechanics. My favorite was sewing. I learned how to use a sewing machine to sew dresses, skirts, and pants. The other that I enjoyed the most was dancing. I enjoyed spending my afternoons out on the patio, feeling the afternoon sun hitting on my skin while dancing. I learned folk dance, commonly known as “ballet folklorico” where we had long colorful skirts that we waved while dancing, and wore special footwear that had stomps, to make a beautiful rhythm. We had dinner at 6:00 PM. Right after we finished our dinner we could play with our friends. We had to be in our dormitories by 8:00 PM. We weren’t allowed to leave our dormitory after sleeping hours which were between 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM. We returned home on Fridays after class ended. My sister and I would take two transportations to go back home and wait until Monday to start all over again. My parents gave me the news that we were moving to the United States of America right after I finished six grade at the boarding elementary school. I had no time to process this information due to the fact that they let us know a month before. My English wasn’t the best. I only knew two to three words, and that wasn’t enough to communicate in this country. I was afraid to go to another place but at the same time I was excited to see what this new place looked like.

After arriving in the United States of America, my parents enrolled me in Junior high school. Thomas Jefferson is the name of my first middle school. I had to learn the basics, from the alphabet, to read and write and more importantly to talk this new language. My days were dark where I could only see the teachers move their mouth not knowing what they were talking about. Every day I missed my old school where I enjoyed sewing, and where I spend my afternoons dancing out on the patio feeling the sun on my skin. My classmates would make fun of me because I didn’t understand what they were saying. This led me to become shy and less social. My afternoons were dark back at home where my brothers and I spend most of the time watching cartoons on tv like “Arthur”, “Dragon Tales”, “Cyberchase” and “Clifford the Big Red Dog”. Without knowing these cartoons were my teachers, they taught me basic English. Cyberchase had math problems which helped me learn math alphabet terms. It took me about four to five months to understand and speak English. My teacher from ESL class was wonderful. I can’t recall her name. She had short blond hair, about 5’4”. I could tell that she enjoyed being a teacher, because she always had a smile on her face. She helped us with our pronunciation which it’s important to being understood. We would read elementary level books to help us with our vocabulary. She would say “take small steps before you learn to run”. Thanks to her I joined some study groups that helped me get better at reading and writing. I met new friends that helped me walk through these rough days. I would say I gained confidence and became more social. My parents couldn’t help me with school projects because they didn’t know English plus they were working all day to provide for us.

Starting all over again is not always easy. Some days I still miss my hometown and my elementary boarding school where I learned to sew, dance, and become more independent. I feel thankful for what I went through because that made me stronger. I can say now that if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be in college to persuade my dreams.