Valentina Lemez

February 24th 2017

English Composition 1 (ENGLI-1101-048)
Instructor: Nadene Eisner

Different continent, different life

Thursday, February 12th 2015. I'm holding my sister's hand and trying to explain to her why is it

that we have to wait 2 hours before we catch our next flight. She is cold, sleepy and exhausted and she

keeps asking me when will she be able to finally hug her dad. Her name is Senka and she is 8 years old.

We are at the airport in Berlin, waiting for our connecting flight to Chicago. We departed from

Belgrade that same morning and after an hour and a half we landed in Berlin. We have a 9-hour-flight

waiting for us before we finally reach our destination. We are moving to the United States to live with

our father, Tanasko. The only thing on my mind is how to take a good care of my little sister who is

scared. I hugged her, she was shivering. It really is cold, but does it really matter to me? No. She asks

me what will it look like in that new country? Will it be okay? Will it be better than it was in Serbia?

She doubts it because, as she said, everything was perfectly fine for her over there. She fears the

unknown, but I fear it more. The only thing that's left is to hope that everything happens for a reason.

Two hours went by, even though it felt like eternity, and we got on the flight for Chicago. Air

Berlin is very nice airline company, the plane is big, spacious and comfortable. The Germans are

always on top of every task, without a doubt. As soon as we found our seats, Senka fell asleep. Thank

God she did, otherwise I wouldn't know how to entertain her for 9 hours. I am trying to pay attention to

the movie I chose to watch, it's called Gone Girl, everybody says it's a really good movie, but I can't.

My thoughts are somewhere else.

I started reminiscing about 20 years of my life in Belgrade. I was satisfied with all of my

accomplishments in that period. I loved my schools and I loved my friends and we had an amazing

time growing up together. My sister was born in 2006 and two years after that my dad moved to the US

to work as a soccer coach, training boys between 8 and 12 years of age for the soccer team called
Slavia. From that day on it was always the three of us, my mother Mirjana, my sister Senka and me. We

got used to living without males and it worked out just fine. But from the day my father went to

America, my mother knew Senka and I would have much better opportunities with him than to stay in

Serbia and they were both working on making that possible for the two of us. Senka was too young to

understand anything and I was just reluctant. It seemed like mission impossible to me and I didn't want

to live in anticipation for God knows how many years. 6 years, to be precise. It took 6 years for my

parents to work everything out and to buy us two one-way tickets. Two one-way tickets to better future,

as they used to say.

I love Serbia and I love Belgrade, everything I know now, I owe it to them. Belgrade streets were there

to watch my first steps and hear my first words and for those and so many other reasons it will always

be my number one city, but I have to admit that future for young people isn't that bright in Serbia. The

economy isn't good and there is a high rate of unemployment, even for highly educated people. That is

not what I want for my future and for the future of my kids.

All of a sudden, turbulence brought me back to reality. Senka was still asleep and Gone Girl was long

gone. How To Train Your Dragon was the movie currently playing. I looked at the flight map, we had

45 minutes left before landing. I can't believe it, I must have fallen asleep somehow without even

realizing it. It can't be that I was just thinking about the past 20 years of my life the entire flight. Or

maybe I was. I couldn't tell. I closed my eyes for a second or that's what I thought it was when the

captain Watson, yes I do remember his last name, announced descending. We are almost there. Senka

woke up with the pain in her neck, completely nervous. We are almost there, a couple more minutes

and you can give daddy a hug, I told her. The smile on her face was priceless.

Finally, we're off of the plane, but where is the baggage claim now? O'Hare International Airport is

huge. I have never seen an airport this big in my entire life. I'm just going to follow other people, they

certainly know better. It took us 45 minutes to get our bags and head towards the exit. My heart was

beating like crazy. We made it, we are here. All of a sudden, Senka let go of my hand and started
running. She spotted our dad despite such a crowded airport, and despite not seeing him in person for

so many years, she really is amazing. I can't run, somebody has to take care of these plastic little girls.

I'm just kidding, they are huge, our suitcases were way too heavy and I had to put together every atom

of my strength to keep them moving. But here I am, a minute later, but I made it. My dad hugged me so

hard and made all of my insecurities go away in one single moment. I am crying but I am also smiling

at the same time. I don't know what to feel and how to behave but nothing matters now. Let's go grab

something to eat, he suggested. What do you say about burger from Red Robin?, he asked. I have no

idea what that place is but I am definitely in. Royal burger with medium fries was my first meal in

Chicago. It was my first meal with my dad after so many years.

Two years and 10 days passed since. My mom joined us a year later so at this time, we are all together

here, family again. I can't say it was easy because it wasn't. Everything was new for me and I had to

take some baby steps until I could reach the level at which I was when I left Serbia. But looking back at

everything I have gone through and looking at what I am now, I wouldn't change a thing. I am 22 now,

finishing my Associates at College of DuPage, with an amazing boyfriend and the best family I could

ever wish for. I truly am happy at this moment and I see my future brighter than I could ever see it were

I to stay in Serbia. I was fearing the unknown, I had certain doubts about this entirely new and different

life that was waiting for me on that other continent, I just didn't know if I would fit in. But now I have

no problem saying that moving to Chicago was the best decision my parents ever made and that I am so

proud of all of us, especially my sister Senka, who is now 10 and who speaks English as if she was

born and raised here. My life has changed completely, every aspect of it is different now than it was in

Serbia, but I love it and I couldn't have imagined it better.

Sometimes, we have to face our deepest fears and confront our disbeliefs in order to move on in life

and continue going towards something even greater that waits for us, who knows where.

Valentina,
You have filled your narrative with concrete nouns that bring to life your
experience. I really like how you grab your reader in your introduction
with a hook that begins in the middle and then takes the reader
chronologically from the past, back to the middle, and then to the
present. I think your then-narrator and now-narrator is apparent as
well, moving back and forth in your story.

I indented your first two paragraphs. Please indent the rest.

For your revision, please look over the to be verbs that I highlighted
and think about how you can replace them with stronger verbs.

Between paragraphs 3 and 4, can you think of a transition sentence to

connect the ideas? You want to help your reader connect the idea of a
better future to your love for Serbia.

Let me know if you have questions.