New Perspectives

When I first arrived to the United States, I was really nervous not only for my new life experience, but also because of the language; I already knew the language and had some experiences communicating with Native American people, but that wasn´t helping me at all.

I knew that nothing was going to be easy since I was going to be "alone", I mean, my real family was not going to be there.

Additionally, I had lot of goals to achieve and dreams to make real. For example, I thought that the place where I was going to live was going to be something similar to my house, and that my bedroom was going to be small with a really tinny bed... but I was wrong!!!

On August 15th 2014, I was at Saint Paul International airport, MN, looking everywhere for my host family, and they were there with the same anxiety as I was.

Before I arrived to Cottage Grove, the town I lived in, I thought that if I wanted to go out to a store or somewhere else I had to take a bus or go walking as I was accustomed in my country; however, the reality was other, THERE WAS NOT PUBLIC THANSPORTATION and EVERYTHING WAS FARAWAY! 

I remember I felt really out of context when I arrived to my host family´s house because I neither knew my host family nor the rules or the house. For example, the house in which I lived the first 2 months was like a big mansion with lot of space, a big living room and a big basement. Also, it had lot of space around it.  The patio was like a playground for the kids and the front yard was like a big golf field.

Besides that, my bedroom was big and with a lot of space in the closet. My bed was big enough to roll down form one side to the other one, and to sleep more than two on it. I had the full basement for myself! I had my own bathroom, living room, TV and bar. 

Another example of how life was at the beginning of my internship is when I took the light rail for the first time. I remember that a volunteer from the community (a mother) took me to the light rail station. I was really nervous since I didn´t know where to buy the ticket and how to do it as well. Additionally, I got confuse because it was supposed that one of my friends, another TA from El Salvador, was going to meet me up at that same station.

While I was waiting for her, the mother who took me to the light rail was hanging around with me and we were doing almost nothing for about 45 minutes. Suddenly, I realized that I was at the wrong place and had to take the light rail immediately by myself in order to meet my friend in another city.  So, that mom helped me to buy the ticket and put me in the light rail. Believe me, I was really ashamed for my big mistake…When I was on the road to meet my friend, I saw lot of different people not only for their cultural backgrounds, but also for how they looked. Over there, there were homeless, drunk people, and really dark skin girls (this was the first time I saw a person like that).  I remember, I was shaking for a little bit, and I didn´t move any part of my body until I went out of the metro. After an hour on it, I finally when out and saw my friend waiting for me.