The majority of the people from my country, Puerto Rico, have always thought that leaving their home to start a new life in North America is very simple. In Puerto Rico, the United States is considered to be perfect and really it is not. All this is known as the "America Dream". They expect to come to North America and get everything and more just by working a couple of hours a week, when it really is not that easy for us. I can not understand why people have to leave their country to be able to fulfill their dreams. And they do not realize that by being from another country makes everything more difficult to accomplish. .
What shocked me the most about moving to the United States were the big differences that exist between our cultures. The Americans and the Puertoricans are raised very differently; therefore, everybody has their own way of thinking. In my country, we are accustomed to living with our parents until we marry and form a family of our own. On the other hand, Americans turn eighteen, and they leave their home to become independent from their parents. I think this is an extremely important factor in family values. For example, in America the families finish by growing apart from one another, and in Puerto Rico the family is the principal priority for them all in life. Another difference that I have noticed is that Americans only like interacting with people from their own race. It seems as if they act superior to us. However, the drama in my family prevented me from dwelling on this issue. .
I think that the most frustrating part about moving to this country was the drama it created. In Puerto Rico, I lived a stable life and I did not want to listen to my mother talk about moving to the United States. She told me the world is more than Puerto Rico. In that other world I found many bad influences. When I came to this country I became involved with a rough crowd. Every night I was out partying with friends to avoid the drama of my mother.