Sociology

I interviewed a friend who is an immigrant to U.S. When I asked her to describe her life as an immigrant to U.S., she said that it is not a very happy experience. My friend belongs to an Asian country and hence she said that she had to face a lot of cultural differences at the time when she had moved to this country around twelve years back. As time passed, the cultural shock got reduced, but still there are a lot of differences that she finds in her life style and viewpoint when compared to those of the U.S. citizens. She feels that the U.S. citizens are treated better than the immigrants by the public at large. After the attack on the world trade center, the immigrants especially those belonging to Asian countries are treated with suspicion. This is a very heartbreaking experience for people like her. She said that she has accepted U.S. as her own country but U.S. does not accept immigrants as their own people. No matter how hard one tries, it is difficult to break the barrier. She has faced lots of racism post 9 11. While narrating one of such incidents she said that after fifteen days of the attack, she went to a restaurant where the manager refused to attend to her. He politely but firmly informed that the restaurant does not cater to the immigrants especially those belonging to the Asian countries. This was an extremely embarrassing experience for her as there were many people who had gathered at the entrance of the restaurant when my friend protested this discriminatory act of the restaurant manager. That night was one of the most unfortunate nights for her and even after so many years the memories of that bad experience haunts her.

According to her, her life before immigrating was like living in a cocooned shell as there was warmth of not only family and friends but also the countrymen who were similar to her in looks, mannerisms, likes, dislikes and patriotism. After moving to a totally different and very far off country in order to pursue higher education, she feels that she has lost more than what she has gained. There is loneliness. There is a constant urge to go back to ones motherland and live with family, friends and relatives and be a part of the colorful festivals of her country. The weather conditions are also different which makes the stay even gloomier.

She believes that her immigration process was not as difficult as the experience after that. During the immigration process, there was a sense of achievement that she has been able to attain admission in an institution of repute as a result of her exemplary merits. After the initial excitement subsided, the monotony of life in a foreign land started taking a toll on her psyche and personality. She started being careful about her actions and speech as she did not want to involve herself in any controversy.

The only thing that she finds better in U.S. in comparison to her own country is that the gender biasness is lesser here. Being a woman poses no threat or discrimination as is the case in most of the Asian countries. She experiences more female emancipation as an immigrant to a foreign land than what she experiences in her own country. She is extremely happy with this aspect of her life in U.S.
The other positive thing that she has experienced as an immigrant is that the people of U.S. have a lot of respect and curiosity for all the ethnic differences that are there between them and people belonging to some other country. According to her the different ethnic aspects like the way of dressing, handicrafts, food, art forms etc. of the people belonging to a different ethnicity is treated with respect in U.S.

On the whole, the experience of my friend as an immigrant to this country is a mixed bag of both sweet and sour experiences. She believes that life would have been better and the immigrants would have not faced so much of racism and discrimination had the world been free of terrorism.