I am immigrating from Vietnam. I came to the United States four years ago.

There were lots of

things that happened while I moved to the United States. I am so thankful for my parents that put
in their hard work to provide my sister and me a new opportunity that we would never dream of
it. This journey to American has changed my life.

Schenectady, NY, was the first city that I was living in when I was in American. I remember
when I took my first step onto American land, everything was so strange to me. I was so excited
and nervous at the same time because I never had my entire life experiment with something like
this. For me, it was like I was in a movie. When I saw my uncle come to pick my mom and me
up from the airplane, I got so excited. On the way back home, I kept looking outside the window
to see what American lands and houses look exactly like. It was a dream for me, like I got lost in
an unknown magnificent land. I remembered I came to the United States in September, where
the schools had already started, but since I was a new citizen to the U.S and my school's
paperwork was still in progress. I could not go to school for a few months, so I had to stay home
for a couple of months. These first few months of waiting at home were difficult for me, partly
because I wasn't in school yet, but also I got homesick. I missed my grandfather and all of my
cousins back in Vietnam. Before I left, my grandfather was in tears and emotional, so was I, but I
wanted to be tough and tried not to cry because I didn't want other people to think I was too
personal. I tried to act tough so that everyone didn't feel worried too much about me. I always
remembered what my grandfather wanted to teach me before I go. He said, "Try to study hard
and be a successful man so that you could come back to visit me one day."