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Outcasts United Immigration

In: Novels

Submitted By Brendanfc1997
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Immigration

“They’re in America now,” Jordan said of the immigrants and refugees. “Not Africa.” What this quote means is that you are not in your homeland anymore. That you are somewhere where the customs could be just a little bit different, or even radically different. Dealing with, and adapting to, the cultural change can be one of the biggest personal problems when immigrating from a different country, like the Lost Boys and the others living in Clarkston, Alabama.

My mom immigrated to Saint Paul from Ireland with my sister Jessica in 1996. They moved because my parents got married and it made more economical sense to live in the USA with my dad’s job. My mom works in the travel business and she believes you can do that from anywhere. Even though my mother and Jessica both spoke English some of the terms and words meant different things, cooker = stove, chips = crisps, bonnet = hood, boot = trunk. It was a little difficult at times, especially for Jessica in school as she would have to correct her different way of spelling things like color (colour) and words where you use s instead of z. She said people kept asking to repeat what she was saying all the time because they liked her accent, but she did not like to be different so she worked hard on getting rid of her accent. These were small things but when you are trying to adjust sometimes the small things are what matter.

My mom missed the close knit family and her friends, but she was helped by my dads family in particular his sister Annie and my Grandma, both were very good to her, so she was lucky. In Ireland neighbours know each other well and often pop over for tea, but in America she found things are a little more reserved.

My sister Jessica found it more difficult to settle and after she graduated from CDH in 2007 she moved back to Ireland and has lived there since. She prefers to live

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