Essay #1: Living Multiculturally

    Living in countries that have different cultures as mine was confusing to me when I was a girl but at the same time very exciting. I have lived in three countries, and all of them have different cultures. When I was eight years old, my parents decided to move to Mexico because the economy in China was not good, so my aunt suggested that my father go to Mexico for better opportunities. After my father worked in Mexico for two years, he decided to bring my mother and me with him. At the beginning, I could not get used to it because everything was different from China, the food, the weather, and people. For example, we did not kiss on the face when we meet someone in China. At that time, I thought that it only happened between Americans. After living in Mexico more than ten years, my family decided to move on again, and this place was Chicago. I had heard about it from many people for many reasons including safety, economic, and people. Since I moved to Chicago, I have been excited and worried about because I noticed that it has advantages and disadvantages.

    Communication was one of the biggest problems I had have. As a person with social phobia, I do not like to socialize or to hang out in places that have a lot of people because I am afraid to talk with others. Around two years ago, the farthest place I had been was Cermak which is five streets from my house. After my cousin started her vacations for school, she started taking me out because she thought that it was boring staying home. Since I started hanging out, I noticed that most of the people from different ages really like natural places like parks, mountains, and lakes because when my cousin invited me to go hiking, all these places were full of people and the parking lots were full. Some people would bring food and drinks to enjoy the view of the mountain or lake, or the weather. I started to enjoy those places too because I thought they were very relaxing to me. I also got integrated for being more confident about dressing style. When I lived in China, I used to buy oversize clothes, not only because they were comfortable but also, I do not want to look fat or weird. After living in Chicago and watching how people are very confident about their style, I stopped caring about others' opinions. I think those people are very brave. For this reason, I started to dress a little bit more confidently.

    Since I embraced my new life in Chicago, hanging out has become one of my hobbies and problems. Since I started to hang out a lot with friends or alone, I felt uncomfortable that the places I wanted to go were so far and sometimes I could not take the train to get there. I had to drive to get to those places. I do not deny that driving is good, but I still have not learned how to drive yet. Even if I know how to drive, sometimes it is hard to find a parking spot. Rarely, I will take an Uber because they are always expensive, and I felt very unsafe and uncomfortable. Using the CTA is always a headache for me. Sometimes, the trains always smell disgusting and dirty, and there are always weird people in the stations. I also had a horrible experience in the subway about a year or two ago. It happened when I had been living in Chicago for around a year. I took the train like usual to go to work after school, and then, my friends started telling me that my bag was open. I realized that my wallet was stolen. Not only that, my green card, social security card, and credit and debit card were all in my wallet. It was a horrible day, and I still cannot believe that it happened to me. For this reason, I don’t like to take any of the CTA because I think that it would happen again.

    Chicago is a city that brings me complicated feelings. I like it because of the views, the lake, and all the nature. It also makes me feel free in many areas, including dressing without worrying about if I am overweight or what my body shape is. However, I really dislike that all the places that I want to go are far away and I can only got there by car, it is an inconvenient situation. I do not mind if I can get to those places on train or bus, even they are very uncomfortable to me. For all these reasons, I have inexplicable feelings about Chicago. I have different feelings every day, I always change my mind about Chicago. I always say that this city has its advantages and disadvantages, so I like it but not love it.