Oral History: Experiences of Immigrants

Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Experiences of Immigrants Immigration is one of the common aspects in each of the society. People move from one place to the other due to various reasons. Immigrants have a number of expectations when they plan to move to a new country. Some of the experiences that they meet can shape their lives so that they can perform better in their lives. However, there are some experiences that may sometimes affect their lives in a negative manner. Most of the negative experiences help them to become more enlightened in their lives and they will come up with different ways of coping up with their new life. As part of understanding the experiences of the immigrants when they arrive in the country, I chose to interview one of the immigrants who is also a family friend. Her name is Chen Lun who came into the country 15 years ago. She was only 20 years old when she came into the country. I have known Chen for a long time since they became friends with my parents when they were studying at college. She usually visits our family and we also visit her family which is not far away from our place. As mentioned previously, immigrants have different seasons for their immigration. Some move due to poor working conditions in their countries or some may move so that they can seek a better life in their country of choice. It is the first question that I pose to Chen Lun. Chen explains that her main reason for her immigration was education. In the year 2003, she got an opportunity of carrying out her college studies in the United States through a scholarship program called China Study Abroad. When asked why he preferred doing her college education in the US rather than her home country, Chen said that she preferred to study in US due to the quality education that was offered in the country and due to the existence of different resources that will help her to explore different opportunities without limitations. Chen was a bit nervous when she first got the news that she had got an opportunity of carrying out her studies in the United States. She explains that she had already read a number of stories on the immigration experiences from other Chinese students who were studying in the United States. She had heard of incidences such as racism but she was more prepared to face the challenges. After her arrival in the US, Chen enrolled in a college to pursue her studies. When she was a freshman in college, Chen made many friends. At this time, one of the greater challenges that she experienced was that of language. Even though she had taken up English courses in her country as part of her preparation to learn English language, Chen realized that she had to go a bit higher to master the English language. She took up a communication course in her college to increase her communication skills. She recommends a communication skills course to anyone who has difficulties in communicating in English. Within her first two years of stay at the college, Chen would communicate well with her friends in fluent English. She did not lose her Chinese accent and she was proud of it. She also got used to a number of American foods that she was not taking when she was a freshman. Besides, she met a number of Chinese students who were studying in the same ...