I was born in China. I lived in China until I was 8 years old and then I came to the US in 2009 with my parents. I left all my friends in China. Before I left, we took pictures together in a mountain. I didn’t want to leave but I had to because my parents will earn more money and I will also have a better education. I was upset that time and so I asked my parents to stay. But my parents answered no because if I stay, nobody will be able to take care of me. I had to leave all my close friends and had to make new friends in a strange country that I had no idea what it was like. When I moved to the USA in November 2009, this image that I took in a mountain in China became the only memory that I had with all of my friends in China. After I moved to the USA I barely talked to my friends in China because of school, HW, and time difference. So sometimes when I miss them I always took look at this image and it reminds me lot of good time that I spend with them. After I moved to the USA, I changed, I am no longer the same as I was in China because of my surrounding and people around me in the USA. I changed from a cheerful girl to a much quiet girl because of my experience in the USA. Moving to a different country really change who people really are as a person because of the experience in there.

– Jiayao Ou

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant