It was two years ago when I discovered that I was going to come here, to the US. My father was living in Brazil.It was on a trip to Chile, in my grandpa’s house when he looked at me excitedly, with so much happiness, that you he couldn't hold it in one thousand cargo ships. He said; "Son, we're coming going back to Chile". I was so joyful that I was crying. I had been away from him for so many years and now I could see him again as many times I wanted. That lasted only for six months, until my uncle told asked him,: "Why are you here? Why you don't you go to the United States? I mean, you married an American woman." My father thought about it for weeks and then he was brave enough to try. After a couple days he came to my house and told me sadly, "I am going to the United States, but this time... I'm not coming back... But don't worry, I still have good news for you. You are going to be with me in two years! You are going to study there!"
At first I didn't know how to feel. Man, I wasn't going to see him often, but I was already used to that. So,... It wasn't too much of a change. After that, I thought about the opportunity. I was going to study in the U.S! That's the same that as saying: "I speak English." In my country speaking English is like being the king. Everybody says "I can speak English" , but no one actually does. And when they see someone speaking another language they stare at him or her because they don't know how to feel about it. So since that day I had to prepare myself to come. I trained a lot in speaking English, resolving math exercises, poetry, history and new things that might come in handy. My last day in Chile was tiring, having to say goodbye to everybody was as hard as I thought it'll be. In the night I was nervous, I thought about staying but, there was no time for regrets. Not anymore.
I spent more time with my friends than family (I actually feel very ashamed of doing that) because at the end of the day my mother always got depressed about my leaving. Most of the time I was playing in the computer with my friends so most of the time I was at home, but sometimes I hung out with them to keep me away from home. That’s something that I always do to avoid hurting people’s feelings. I stay away from them and try not to talk so when I’m gone it won’t be too much of a difference. Still, we did some fun things with my family, some Chilean fun things. We went to a festival called "Trilla". This festival was used a long time ago to separate the wheat from the grass. The thing is this, two “raiders” go into a fenced circle and ride the horses making circles and stepping on the wheat. And last the people grab tridents and throw the wheat to the air so the wind blow it off. All of this was one month before I was gone. With my friends we played really seriously (we still do but not too often). If you were there you would hear us scream at the screen so hard that you may think that we were to spit our vocal cords.
That was every day of the month (excepting weekends) but with eating breaks. we had the most exciting time of all time.
It was easy to choose what to bring because I was at home most of the time. I wished I could pack up my friends too. But together we found a way to keep doing what we love. The most important thing that I brought is my computer. It keeps me in touch with my friends and family (since i didn’t had a phone because three guys robbed me). After that there’s my clothes, bicycle and an old guitar. I used a little baggage for the clothes, shoes down in the bottom and from there up with shirts and stuff, The guitar was in a bag and the bicycle packed up in pieces inside a cardboard box. I started packing two days before. The bicycle took me one whole day to pack while the clothes, guitar and computer one hour. I did it all by myself, I didn’t wanted any kind of help because that will mean of my mom crying or someone else crying (still she cried but at least I wasn’t there to see it).
I didn’t shopped for anything because It wasn’t needed. But I received a lot of presents from my family. They thought that I needed things like shirts, jeans, socks or even hand-warmers. I brought everything not because I was going to use, I did it just to make them feel happy. I know they do this because they love me so I can’t do anything less than that. My last month was plagued of questions like “do you need anything?” , “are you sure?”. But I’m a cheap guy, I just need two jeans and five shirts to wear. my house was grim that time, and a little “perturbation in the force” could end in a fight. So most of the time I was locked up in my room playing video games.
I didn’t had the need to close up or sell my house because my mother and brother were going to stay there. Even if my house it’s not in a really good zone still is a really good neighborhood, it’s like the best of the middle class. Two miles away from my house there’s a really bad place called “La Frontera” or the border in English. In that place people die and there’s a lot of drug addiction and drug wars.I was a little worried about leaving because of that, but my brother managed himself to learn to use my air rifle. At least it’s something that gives me some relief because he can protect our stuff.
Last good-byes and I was gone. My family was melancholic it’s the first time that I’m away from them for more than 2 months, and the first time my little brother and I got separated. My dad was with me in the taxi and every mile away was a reminder to me “do not cry”. It was a real challenge but I achieved it. The airport smelled like poop, but the funny part about it it’s that wasn’t the airport that smelled bad It was my dad’s bag, he rolled it over dog poop in the street when he was going to pick me up. after buying a new bag we went to the VIP lounge. It wasn’t because of me or the tickets. My dad travels a lot because of his job so he has access to the VIP lounge. We entered the plane and started the trip, we were going to Miami first and then Philadelphia. In the plane I was quiet, I didn’t said anything until we were far away because I was frightened of crying. I ate some kind of ravioli, a salad, cookies and juice. In Miami we had a long wait, but we were already In the U.S. Then when we were in Philadelphia we took a taxi. finally home, I was excited of seeing again my sister and meeting my baby brother. My sister was shy at first, but after forty five minutes she was as sweet as always. In the other hand my little brother wasn’t shy at all he just knew I was his brother someway. and to celebrate my step mother took us to eat a Philadelphia Cheese-steak.
Finally sleep. I have some kind of curse because I can’t sleep in planes, cars or even day time. so I hadn’t slept in three days. One, at my house before leaving the night before I was nervous. Two, I was leaving and the night I spent it in the plane. Three, I was in the airport and was daytime. Finally the night at home I slept in a inflatable mattress because my bed hadn’t arrived yet. It wasn’t uncomfortable, I’m used to hard stuff. After all I was in the U.S. already. And that’s just the beginning.
