Your going to be the first to go to school in America. Your going to be the first to graduate from high school. Your going to be the first to go to a university they would say. Since I was four years old I made myself as well as my parents the promise of fulfilling all of this. The first though, why the first, why so much pressure? With the feelings of pride and hopes for a promising future also came the fears of failure and disappointment to not just myself but my whole family as well. I was born in Istanbul, turkey at a time when things weren't as modern as they are now. We lived in a tall city like building that my grandfather created himself. Him and his 8 children and each of their families lived in this one building filled with more light and happiness then every building in the world. At least that's what it was to me. Every floor had a story, and every room had a memory that none of us would ever be able to forget. I had only stayed there for four years of my life because me and my family had a chance to do something that very few people from turkey got a chance to do. And that was to come to America. Excited to see a new world, make new friends, experience things no one I knew had. But at the same time scared of the change, worried about missing my family, afraid of leaving my home. .
Soon enough my fears would fade away. Though not as glamorous as I had expected or heard America was my new home. This meant I learned a new language. A new way of living. Almost a new life. Everything thrown at me at once from school to new people to new everything. I faced every challenge with nothing but excitement and determination. Ten years later, the same spirit, the same excitement, the same determination. I was so different from everyone else surrounding me but I felt the same. I have pride in my life, in my background my religion my heritage. But there's not one thing In the world that would ever stand up to my life growing up as a Turkish-American.
