# 47 007

My First Steps in America

It was one year ago...my sister invited my to America. I lived in Germany with my family. I had a job, house, and a great opportunity to make a career so it was a very difficult decision to leave everything and enter a different world. My sister needed my help so I made the decision to leave for America. When I stepped off the plane I felt a magical feeling. I felt very lucky and I believed everything was going to be okay.

For the first couple of months everything was so different. I was without a job so I could explore and live the life of a tourist. While I was living here and exploring, I realized there were many differences between America and Europe. In Europe after you turn eighteen you are exposed to a completely different climate. You are also more independent and live like an adult where as in America you don't reach adulthood till after college. Another huge change I had to go through was converting the Metric system to the American System. In Poland you are not expected to pay a tip, being generous was something you choose to do. Here, in America, it is mandatory to pay a ten to fifteen percent tip. Besides everything, the people here are very kind, and the atmosphere is very friendly. I came here without speaking English and I sometimes got upset because of the language barrier. For example: I was asked "How do you like being here?" and I responded "No, I don't like it," and this person looked at me funny because I understood this question as, "How do you like beer?”.

I lived with my sister. I was helping her out with her children, cleaning, and anything I could do to help. One day my sister found the man of her dreams and with her lovely beginning came my ending of a good time in America. The house became too small and along with that new problems surfaced. I had to move out. Now I had many questions like: Where do I get a job? How do I earn money? What is my perspective for the future? A wonderful, new friend gave me a home, fed me and my child, took me under his care, and gave me something to look forward to, in the future.

After a couple of weeks I found a job and I earned my first real money. I was slowly starting to take my first steps as an independent person in America. The wasn't much money therefore I had to learn how to manage my money and make wise decisions with it. I read somewhere that there were English classes and decided to take them hoping they would expand my horizon. After all I was in America, the land of opportunity. This English class has opened my eyes. I plan to attend college after my English gets better. I want to get a degree in psychology and help people with their problems.

This past year in America has taught me that anything can happen and not necessarily, always good things. After one year there were hard times, nights of crying, and hectic days. However, now everyday gets better. I decided that I want to be a part of America. In this country I found the love of my life. I can only hope everything continues to go well and my life here just gets better and better.

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong." -Ella Fitzgerald, African American singer (b.1918)

.....I think she's right.