Pan's Life Story

My Life Story As A Refugee here in America

By Pan Young

I am a 15-year-old girl and a sophomore at Bishop Maginn High School. I  live with my mother on Morton Avenue. I came here to America as a refugee back in 2014. Yes, that means that this year on July 12th me and my family will be here in America for five years. Now, the reason why I am writing this story is because I want to share what happened in my life here in America, and basically how I become who I am today.

      

 First, I want to share how is life here in America as a refugee. It is not easy at all. When I first came here, I felt like I was in a different world. Everything seemed so different — I mean basically everything: the culture, the language, obviously, the weather, the food and much more. Even myself — I felt like a different person living here. 

  

I still remember how I was struggling to speak or answer back to my teacher about how I felt at school, or how I am doing with school and life. And sometimes you do feel like you regret coming here since you feel like you don’t belong here That’s how me and my mother felt at first, especially when I go to school for the first time. Let me tell you, English is “ridiculous.” One word can have a thousand meaning and it can be translates to many things. English is my third language, and It took me lots of concentration and focus, trying my best to get used to the language and how to pronounce words and learn their definitions as well.

At Giffen Memorial Elementary School I was put in 6th grade, based my age. I bet I was 11 years old. I still remember the first day of school here. I was sweating the whole time and looked like I was about to cry and faint. My communication with others was not doing well; I was very shy and intimidated. I was assigned to English as a Second Language, or ESL, as well as regular classes. That’s where I met  the ESL teacher, Ms. Domenico. I believed she’s still there in charge of a little higher class of students who attend ESL like fourth graders, fifth graders and sixth graders like me.

And the day I met Ms. Domenico, I started to see the positive side of my life. I feel happier and more grateful to be here in America. She is one of the greatest people that I’ve met in my life. She taught me not just English language but many other things that had not made sense to me before then. 

She helped me to overcome my struggles and my fear of this new place and new culture and people. She also helped me with my behavior and encouraged my personality to come out of my shy un-outgoing personality to who I really am. She also helped my mother, giving her ideas on places to go to get answers to our questions. I could go to her and tell my problems and she will just help me through it without hesitation. 

I believe that’s why you don’t judge things too quickly. I realize she showed up to me for a reason and she assure me that I am not the only who feel and act like this. I was just shook — my brain couldn’t process what was going on with my life, I feel like that’s when I felt brave enough and my life started to change  I felt relieved and as time went on, before I even knew it myself, I start to make new friends at school and not being alone.

At Giffen I began to feel like a new me. I entered a new good chapter of my life  Bit by bit my new personality emerged, but my old self is still somewhere deep down in me. And you should never forget who you are and who you were; that way you will realize how far you’ve come, how much many things have happened and changed you, and how many things you’ve achieved. 

Before I end my story I just want to tell you a short message to all the others refugee out there those who are still struggling to get through their life. It doesn’t matter where you came from or who you are, don’t be afraid, and don’t be afraid to talk about yourself. I believe that you were born for a reason and live your life according to that reason. why you were born in the first place. And one more important thing is to love yourself. That way you can love and take care of others.