The Sunshine State
- Maggy Kzlgezyan
- Glendale
- ESTADOS UNIDOS
- 17
- This personal story was submited in English
Most everyone who wants to come to the United States has heard many great things about it. California really represents what the U.S. is about. One in four Californians is an immigrant. That is a higher proportion than any other state in the United States. Most immigrants entering the United States are destined to come to California. The state is basically run on immigrants. Some may be illegal and some may be legal. Californians are more accepting than most states. Sadly, racism does exist because it will never be entirely gone but we have more tolerance because we are so mixed. Most of the time, in our classrooms and work places, we have more than 5 different ethnicities.
My first best friend was a African American little girl in my kinder garden class. She spoke English and I only knew Armenian at the time but we still communicated somehow. That is the beauty of California.They all just wants a better life and more freedom.
Before coming to California, both my parents lived in Armenia who was formerly under the rule of communist Soviet Union. The journey began with my father’s grandfather. In 1979, my great grandparents moved to the Pasadena, California. During the next fifteen years they sent presents, presents, and letters back home to their children and grand children. In 1982, my grandfather came to see this new found place that his parents fell in love with. Then he too fell in love with California. When he went back he told his family about his amazing trip and how he had plans to move to California. In November of 1988, they started their journey to California. On their way they stopped in London for a few days. November 28, 1988 they arrived, my father was 29 years old.
A few years later he met my mother who was also an immigrant who migrated from Armenia to California about 9 months before him. My mother’s family migrated to California when my mother was 19 years old. They had heard great promising things about California and couldn’t wait to migrate here. From 1979 to 1988, they worked on making their documents to move to the United States legally. It was very hard to get out of the Soviet Union as it was collapsing. June of 1988, they went to Italy and stayed there for a few weeks. On June 10, 1988 they arrived in North Hollywood, CA. They soon learned that most of the things they had heard were not entirely true but began to love the state.
My Parents met summer of 1989 and decided to get married April of 1991, they have been married every since. In 1999, they both became naturalized citizens. Even though I still have relatives in Armenia, most of my close family lives in California. I have never seen those who I am related to that live in Armenia but we often speak. My cousins in Armenia all wish they could come and join us because of all the great things they have heard about our sunshine state.