I wanted the elevator that took us to security at the airport to last forever. I knew as soon as the doors opened, my new life would begin.
Not many nine year olds can say that they moved across the Atlantic Ocean.
Waving goodbye to my family as the elevator doors closed is a flashbulb memory I will never forget. I knew everything would change from that point forward because now Scotland wasn’t my home. It would just become a place I would visit every couple years. It would soon become a place that I would call a vacation not my home.
This was frightening because I was afraid of leaving all my friends and family. Friends that I have known since I started school and family that I have grown up with.
Moving to America at such a young age was easier in the sense that I wasn’t fully aware of what I was leaving behind.
I moved from a small town called Perth to America. Perth is a place where you are surrounded by familiar faces. You always walked to school passing by the local corner shop, were you know all the workers. You were able to get on a bus right outside your house that would take you all over the town.
America was completely different. I went from knowing everyone, to knowing nobody. Trying to understand all the changes at such a young age made it very difficult to adjust. There was a lot more independence growing up in a small town, and moving to America made me depend on my parents a lot more.
I know truly realize how moving to America changed my life for the better.
I wouldn’t have met all the amazing people over here that I have got so close with other the years, if my family never moved. I wouldn’t have made the friends that I now can consider friends for life.
With moving, I have been able to visit all the amazing places around me like Philadelphia, New York City, Washington DC, etc. I’ve been able to go to the beach in the summer and not have to be wrapped up head to toe.
I’ve got to experience how outrageously big the food portions are over here that everyone rags about in movies. (I now know that everything they talked about is true, and the portions are big everywhere you go).
I received an education that I would not have received back in Scotland. I wouldn’t have had the chance to take the SATS or ACTS, but I definitely could have lived without taking those!
With moving, I was able to attend one of the best colleges in the United States for Communication Studies and still be close to home. I am able to attend a school with over 30,000 students and study right in the heart of Philadelphia.
While yes there are colleges in Scotland, none of them would have offered me the same opportunities as Temple.
While I was skeptical at first, I can truly say that moving to America has changed my life for the better and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I now look back at that scared little girl in the elevator and realize how much I have grown. I now see myself as a confident adult who is ready to face any new obstacle that may come my way.