Finding new opportunities and knowing that there are open doors is always great.  That is what happened to us in 1999 when my parents decided that Mexico was not a place to be safe in.  A little background of Mexico- it is a country where poverty plays a major role in almost every household. People barely have a pair of shoes or a meal. The latest poverty statistics of Mexico between 2010 and 2012 was that poverty rates slightly fell 0.6 percent, from 46.1  percent to 45.5 percent. Also the population was growing between those years and the people living in poverty increased to 52.8 million to 53.5 million. Lets not even begin to discuss the crime in this country, according to fox news it is one of the most dangerous nations in the world. These are the many reasons as to why people decide to immigrate to the United States.

There’s 20 million illegal immigrants in the United States. If that’s not crazy, I don’t know what is. My family and I used to be included in those 20 million people. Coming into a new country with nothing is difficult and adapting to new surroundings made it even more challenging. Here is my personal story about moving to the United States with just my mother and my father. I didn’t have much knowledge about what was going on at the time and what it meant crossing the border into Texas because I was so young. My parents did tell me that they had to overcome many obstacles. As I was growing up, I started to slowly notice those obstacles. I remember moving into some kind of old apartment with nothing but a mattress and a radio, listening to 70’s songs. I remember those times being the most difficult because we didn’t have much. What I mean by not much, is that we  could barely afford a plate of food to put on the table.  My parents desired being back home to Mexico because that’s where our family is. These were a couple of challenges my parents had coming to a new country. Moreover, one of my biggest struggles was learning a new language. I didn’t start learning English until I was four years old. Interacting with other students was just not on my list. Even other kids used to make fun of me in Pre-K. I would come home from school crying, because I felt that I would never fit in. I felt that I would never learn English. My parents tried to keep it together and work twice as hard to make our  life stable.

Things did get better with time. We moved out of the apartment and into a better place. All due to having hard working parents. We moved into a brand new home, got new cars, basically new everything. Honestly, it wasn’t easy coming from nothing and into a country where we didn’t belong in. My family and I feel so blessed to know that we are living great. Now, my dad has a great paying job and my mom is a stay home mother. I’m personally about to head into college and to know that I have an opportunity to be an Mexican-American girl with open doors in life is amazing. That even people who  didn’t come from nothing can still make it big. That I will forever hold Mexican pride in my heart. I hope one day I get to see the beautiful Mexico.