My Topic

At a first reading, my topic might not be so interesting, convincing or a good subject to brainstorm about. In the eyes of a person who never traveled and who never cared about looking around, this is just another simple fact of every day life. But just think about this: everything is related to it. The biggest conflicts nowadays are related to this difference between individuals, between the ideas that they have and the beliefs they don’t want to lose. Think about the war in Iraq, in Afghanistan. They don’t care about what happens to them, to the people around them. They just want their beliefs to be heard, listened and used by everybody no matter what. This is a difference that I, for instance do not understand.On the other side, here in the U.S.A, this mixture of different people coming from totally different worlds can live together and can build such a beautiful and great country. If you go to the bank, to a regular store or just walk, you see a lot of people with different beliefs and ideas working together without having any problems.
These people form what was traditionally known as the “melting pot” of the world, name that tends to be replaced nowadays by such expressions as “salad bowl” because the American people is seen now as a mixture of individual characteristics and not a blend of cultures. However, the United States is known as the country with the most diverse population, which makes it unique and gives it a special image among the countries of the world.

My Major Decision

Each of us, at a certain moment in our life, thinks about visiting another country either this thought becomes reality or remains just a dream. However, moving from one country to another can be much more difficult than one could ever think. When I moved from Romania to the U.S.A. it proved to be much more challenging than I thought it would be.
There were many adjustments I had to experience in order to make my life better in my new country, adjustments that I had never even thought about before I left Romania. Leaving Romania and starting a new life in the United States was one of the hardest things I have ever been through in my life, because I had to get used to living my life away from my family. After many years and for the first time in my life I came to live with my father and, on the other hand, I left my entire extended family behind. This new experience was both very exciting and very painful for me, as I was happy to finally see my father, but also very sad because I felt like I was leaving behind a piece of myself.

In addition, learning to speak American English proved to be extremely difficult and confusing for me. I have studied English for six years in school, but I have never met or talked to an American before I moved here. In Romanian schools, we usually study two or three foreign languages, a very good reason for me to be very confident in my English knowledge. However, to my surprise, the English that I learnt in school back in Romania proved to be much different from the language actually spoken by Americans. Also, I have encountered an unusual way of speaking English, such as the slang, “right on!”, “no ya mean!”, “what up!”, “double bomb” and the broken English, the incorrect use of English words, which were very hard for me to understand.
Nevertheless, the most important thing I have learned coming here was to adjust to the general American way of life by freely choosing to let go of some of my Romanian roots and accepting the idea of becoming a “Romanian-American”. I was able to adapt to my new life despite the differences I encountered in the United States, as compared to Romania. One of these differences was that I had to conform to new rules, in school, in traffic, in society in general, which not only were new to me but also were very strict. What is more, I came across with a new way of thinking and new customs, which made me, think how simple things are in Romania. Generally, Romanians have more free time for themselves, because they usually have one job and daily life there is easier as you do not have to go through the stress of having too many jobs and too little time to do everything. Another important aspect to be noticed is that Romanians have the freedom of living in their houses without having to pay mortgage because the price of the house is incomparable lower than here. Furthermore, the car is not such a big necessity as it is here because there are many commuting ways or you can simply walk to stores or to your job, thing that avoids staying in traffic for hours, as it happens in the United States.
Fortunately, I managed to cope with almost everything here, and although I miss my family, and my country, I know that this new challenge brought me benefits. I am proud of the progress I have made in the short time I have been living in the United States and I thrive on this change because every second of my life here has proved worthy to me. Every day I learn new and interesting things that help me know myself and those around me a bit more, and I like what I am becoming, a person that is stronger and wiser.
This is what I experienced and still experience sometimes, after I took the major decision of moving to the United States. From the outside, America seems to be a beautiful dream but when we actually get to live here, we realize that what we imagined is not how reality looks like. Things that seemed to be very easy than, now are very hard, especially because of so many differences that exist between these two countries, Romania and the United States, and the trial to adapt to them is difficult. Even though the transition from one cultural custom to the next proved to be extremely hard at first, I would not change my experiences for anything. I have slowly evolved into a unique combination of traditional Romanian custom and American style. Every experience I have had is very precious for me. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity of learning so many new things, see new places and meet new people.