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Denis Deng

Professor Patterson

Writing 2

8 August, 2019

First Arrival In The United States

“Is the United States really better than China?” My friend Ada keeps asking me about the

situation of the United States. Ada is a new international student who has been admitted to the

University of California at Santa Barbara; because we happen to come from the same hometown,

Chongqing, we decide to hang out for once so I can tell her what the life in a different country

looks like.

“Not really”, I answer, “except few world-known cities such as New York and Los

Angels, most parts of the United States are suburb areas where you have to take 20 dollars Uber

to buy a 10 dollars hamburger. If you wish to enjoy decent Chinese food, you have to take a 3-

hour train to Los Angels ”.

“It sounds terrifying”. Ada replies with a shocked look. She turns her eyes to the street

outside the Starbucks where we are, playing with her hair and getting lost in a daze, and then she

turns her face back to me and asks, “so, what do you think your 3-year experience of staying in

the United States has affected you on your personality and lifestyle.”

This is a question worthy of deliberating, and I know that it is my turn to submerge

myself in memories to search for an adequate answer. I look at the Americano inside my bottle.

The black coffee shows a bit of brown because the extra milk I have added, and the smell of rich

fragrance bring me back to the 15-hour flight from Beijing to New York 4 years ago.
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It was September in 2015, and I remember I was staring at the same type of Americano

which I ordered on the plane. Forgetting about how long I have been looking at coffee without a

single movement on muscle, I was ruminating purposelessly because my mind was full of both

the sadness for leaving half-earth away from home and the excitement for the new life.

“Dear passengers, we are about to land on John. F. Kennedy Airport soon, please fasten

your seatbelt”.

The voice from the broadcast dragged me out from the chaotic thoughts, and I suddenly

realized I was in the sky above New York City, the greatest and most urbanized city in the world.

Looking through the tiny window, I was amazed by the outside view. Under the dark sky, there

was a giant luminous net which was as beautiful as shimmers of starlight in the galaxy. I could

not resist the excitement inside, and my mind was filled with delight and expectation of my

future life.

20 minutes later, I landed at John. F. Kennedy Airport. The custom took me nearly 2

hours to pass because there were so many people. As my final destination was Philadelphia, I

had to check-in for my flight in the domestic terminal. I was 16 years old and never had any

experience of living in a country where English was the mother language. Therefore, I had a

heavy accent and my grammar was terrible.

When I told my destination to the staff at the check-in table, she could not understand

what I was talking until she found another staff who could speak Mandarin. It was a challenging

process; although everything eventually worked out in success, I became somewhat nervous and

anxious about my future because of the language barrier; and I could never imagine that this was

only a prelude for the most dramatic experience I have ever had in life.
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1 hour later, I arrived at Philadelphia Airport. After near 18-hour flights without good

rest, I felt indescribably exhausted. My eyes were dry and red, my stomach ached, and my every

piece of muscle was too sore to produce power to support any big or fast movement. Being out

of energy, I felt my two big pieces of luggage were as heavy as rocks. It was impossible for me

to carry that heavy luggage for a long period of time, but, fortunately, my high school assigned a

teacher, Mr. S, to pick me up at the airport so that I did not have to look for transportations to get

to the school which was 40-minute-drive away from Philadelphia.

Arriving at the arrival room, I prepared myself with smiles and a positive attitude, and I

kept telling myself that a good first impression was important and I needed to be talkative

because no person liked people who only stayed silence. I expanded my eyes as wide as possible

and searched for Mr.S in the room, but I did not find any people responding to my passionate

gaze. Then I moved to a more obvious place and waited for someone to reach out to me and

introduced himself as Mr. S; but after 20 minutes, I was standing still like no one has noticed my

existence. I kept my polite smile and thought that being late was normal and I just had to wait for

a little longer.

40 minutes later, I was squatting and circling on the floor with my finger, and all my

smile and positive attitude were replaced by helplessness and impatience. With a bit of anger, I

decided to abandon my hesitation for my bad English and call this Mr. S; however, no matter

how many times I tried, there was no one answering the phone but a robot that kept asking me to

leave some messages in the voicebox.

Could the failure of calling be the result of my Chinese number? I was confused, and then

I decided to ask a lady who sat by the wall and tried to borrow her phone.
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“Excuse me”, I felt my voice trembling because of the nervousness, “I am wondering if I

can borrow your phone and call my teacher who is supposed to pick me up 1 hour earlier?”

“Of course”. The lady smiled and gave me her phone, and I felt some warmth in the

heart. I thanked her and called Mr. S, but still, no one answered. The lady also helped me call a

few times, but all we could hear from the phone was the robot voice. I despaired; being in a

foreign country with unfamiliar language and having no known people, I did not know what to

do but call my parents in China.

“Dad, there was no one picking me up in the airport”. As soon as the call connected, I

almost cried out to my father, “I have called the teacher so many times but he does not answer”.

“Calm down first, find a place to get rest, and get yourself something to eat. Your mother

and I will contact the agent immediately”. After a few brief consolations, my father hung up the

phone, and I had no choice but pull all the luggage against the wall and found a place to sit.

A half-hour later, my father called back.

“Your agent is trying to contact the school, but because the semester has not started yet, it

takes time to contact staff in the school. Therefore, I highly recommend you to go to a police

station and ask for help from them”, My father said with his deep voice, “we love you, but in

such a distanced country, we cannot help you solve every problem; and it is time for you to be

independent and learn to overcome obstacles by yourself”.

I was shocked and felt nothing but blank in mind. I hardly ever solved any serious

problems independently except taking exams at school because I was the only child in my family

and every family member was willing to give me their best love. Moreover, I was unconfident

with my speaking so I felt it challenging to express myself properly with English. Lastly, as a 16-

year-old teenager, I have never talked to a police officer even in China, so I thought to ask for
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help from a police station in the United States was like an impossible mission. However, I

understood my situation that I could not receive help if I remained to be passive.

“I can do this. It is not a big deal. Growing up is an inevitable process, and if I want to

become an independent and reliable man, I must try to overcome difficulties by myself”. There

was a voice in the head, and I was finally convinced by it. Then I told my father not to worry

anymore and then hang up the phone.

I could not remember the details in the police station because I was exhausted at that

time. The only thing I knew was that I overcame my fear of speaking and expressed myself

explicitly; after 1-hour wait, the school sent another staff and he picked me up in the police

station, and this was the real beginning of my high school life in the United States.

I move my eyes away from the coffee and look at Ada, and I tell her, “Studying abroad is

hard because there are a lot of obstacles and you have to face them independently for the first

time. However, you will get stronger gradually, and when you look back at the journey you have

taken, you will feel happy because you find yourself mind-matured through various meaningful

experiences”.