"Crossing Flatbush Avenue"-Aleksandra S.

Seven years ago Aleksandra came to United States from a small city in Poland having no goals for future. She had gone through many good and bad challenges in America. Now she is graduating from Brooklyn College and ready to become an early childhood teacher. She’s one of the examples of American dream.
Before coming to the United States I had no expectations. I would often hear my neighbor’s stories around my block how well you can live there and afford everything. My father who migrated to the United States when I was five years old wouldn’t really talk how life was there but frequently send me, my younger sister Anna and my mom gifts. This innocent thinking made me think that in the country like America there is no poverty. Years later I got a chance to see myself the truth when my family got a visa to go and live with my father.

My first reaction was a disappointment when I saw the streets of Brooklyn. They seemed so dirty, strange and as if there was no creativity with where everything was. This was just a beginning with what I was about to deal with. Few months later, my mother had to return to Poland because of health problems. Along with my sister we were torn apart because we wanted to go back and be with her, but there was no educational perspective for us in Poland. Even getting a job was very low because of the unemployment. People who can afford an education must also go through a very strict system and then struggle to find a job with a college degree. This is why so much youth immigrates to different countries so, they can have better future perspectives. Therefore, I and my sister stayed with my father.

Adopting new culture, food, school, and people was a hard issue to go through every day. The food had no real taste and I was eating not to starve. I couldn’t express myself properly when I was in school. People would give me strange faces or attitude. The more I stick to English and practice every day the more I realized that I was making some friends besides polish ones in F. D. R. High School. Now when I think back of how hard and hating it was to learn English, I laugh because now instead speaking to my sister in Polish we tend to have English conversations. At the beginning when I came to this country I used to do everything in Polish way, meaning Polish friends, Polish stores, Polish restaurants and frequently revisiting Greenpoint, a Polish neighborhood. As I assimilated with this culture, my lifestyle and values have changed in a positive way. I became more open minded, more knowledgeable about different lifestyles and more encouraged and supported by my teachers of the importance of education.

I’m fulfilling one of my biggest dreams which is working with young children. Since the enrollment at Brooklyn College I took varieties of different job opportunities in different children’s centers not for the sake of money but to gain experience in something that I really enjoy to do. This goal made me to ask one of the most important questions in my life: “Will I be living in this country or going back to Poland? I have decided to stay here, became a U.S citizen and also good contributor to the society. I think that I’m one the exceptions when it comes to making right decisions as an immigrant. By right decisions I mean never to give up and following your dream even if the beginning is really tough and scaring. Only hard work and determination will pay off in the future. A lot of Polish youth doesn’t care about gaining Polish or American education. They come here, get high school education and then prefer working hard jobs such as a construction companies or cleaning workers. To acknowledge the fact, some of them have no choice but to work jut to support themselves, but they reject the opportunity to learn English.

Sometimes I really miss my whole family in Poland, my mother, my grandma with whom I would spend my childhood in the country side. I keep in touch with everyone by calling them or by seeing them in person at vacation time. Maybe one day they will visit me here, as I say it my second home. I’m proud to be Polish and at the same time to assimilate with American culture. I want to start my family in the U.S, but at the same time teach the next generations never to forget where they really came from?