April 16,2004; I came to the USA for the first time with so many dreams in my eyes inomit searching for a wonderful life. Like most newcomers, I had little idea about this country at the very beginning. I started my new journey to a better life from this New York City. Though I had some relatives here, soon I understood that I had to take care of everything myself. Everybody at home werewas so busy that nobody had any extra time to help me find a job or to show me the way to a better future.
The practical situation began to contradict my old ideas and beliefs about the reality of life in this country. In order to begin my education , I had to get my High School Diploma first. I went to an adult learning center and studied hard to pass the GED test within just 3 months. As soon as I got my diploma, The next step for me was to take admission to ana well-known college. I took admission to BMCC in the Spring 2003 semester. In the meantime, I was also struggling to find a job. I had to go thruthrough so many job applications and interviews. Yet, most of them refused to hire me as I didn’t have any previous job experience. I was frustrated but never stopped trying. I took my first job at MacDonald starting with minimum salary. However, the job seemed very hard and stressful to me at the beginning. I started to discover the truth that everything that I aimed for could come to my fate only by means of hard working and strong determination. The truth did hurt me then as I used to think that there was virtually no need to do any hard work, or that no stress would come into my way in my dream country.
Earning enough money to meet with all my expenses besides going to school had became an everyday struggle in my life. I had to pay $600 rent every month and bear all of my personal expenses. My mother paid for our food, and that was the only way I could go on with my studies. As I was a full time student, I could work only for part time and I got minimum salary. So, most of the time, I had avery hard time paying for all my expenses. I had to struggle at my school on various issues. As I worked on the weekends, I always failed to do some of the homework every week resulting in getting poor grades at school. I didn't have any extra time to study when there was an exam. I decided to study Pharmacy as my major. So, I had to take all the science courses which required extra attention and time. My educational career became a big challenge for me and even seemed impossible at times. Besides, studying in English as a second language virtually doubled the amount of my stresses. In a situation like that, I wasn’t dreaming anymore; I was struggling. I also lacked health coverage. I used to work under a low paying company that didn't cover any health insurance. So, I was among those unfortunate workers in this country who are unable to pay any health related expenses of their own. In a circumstance like this, a man like me didn't have any kind of security even when it came to life.
As I talked about various problems that I had to face in my everyday life at the early stage of my career, I also pointed out the fact that any student at my position could suffer similar consequences. The idea about life in this country that I have now is far away from the one I had before. Today, I know what I'm heading for, but I also know that the only way to reach that destination is to go along with all my struggles.
Abdur Khan Eng 101
B