Sosina Demissie

Priold 1

Ms.Cunningham

January 10 2019

My Heroic Journey

My Heroic Journey was moving to the United states. Moving into a foreign country was a

struggle. I didn’t know the language much the less I didn’t know the people here or if I was

going to be treated any differently from what I was used to. It is for this reason that my greatest

challenge in my life has been moving to the United States when I was twelve years old. I had to

start my life all over again because of the different culture and language. For example, when

someone makes eye contact in my origin country, it is considered disrespectful, but here it is not.

In fact, some people expect, even demand eye contact. What was most challenging was going to

school and not being able to understand what was going on around me, or even what the teacher

was talking about. Not knowing the language forced me to work very hard to overcome my

challenge. One benefit of this challenge was that it made me strong and I was able to identify

strengths. I learned that to be true to myself as the most import thing in life and get me to the

next step in my life. I adapted to life in the US by staying true to myself and not trying to be

someone else because I moved to United States. My adjustment was hard at first as I don’t know

how they react. I reminded myself not to forget my culture and language which I value as a

reminder of where I come from with full of memories where I spent significant and gained

important life experience as a kid. I was once relocated to a new place where a different

language was used as a medium of school instruction than I speak when I was in Ethiopia. I even
have to skip a grade and bumped up to the next level just to use my mother tongue language

during this period. The combination of language and economic problems had created uncertainty

in my life. I just recalled this experience when I first arrived in the US with language barrier.

Overall, I am grateful for all of my life experiences as they have shaped me who I am and I

appreciate every moment of it. It is true that all the challenges and changes that I faced provided

me with knowledge and experience including shaping myself who I am today.