America was a whole new world to me. New York was supposed to be my new home, but it was too unfamiliar; I wanted to go back home to Jamaica as soon as I arrived. The differences in my new environment could be seen everywhere. For a girl who lived in tropical weather for the first 8 years of her life, I struggled to stay warm and adjust to bulky winter clothing. Back home, there were trees everywhere; in my backyard, we had a mango tree, an ackee tree, a guinepp tree, and a pomegranate tree (we call it panganot). Here, there was no tree in my backyard that I could pick a delicious fruit from and eat. My mom drove me everywhere in her car when I lived in Jamaica; therefore, taking a bus in New York City was very different. There was always a crowd, especially on the trains, and it was weird to take trains because in Jamaica there are no passenger trains, only freight trains. Trains scared me, and it took me two years before I would willingly take one.

Though I was desperate to make friends, the Brooklyn slang was difficult to adjust to. Not only was it difficult to adjust to, but I was hesitant to socialize because where I come from, they prefer quiet children. My peers in New York seemed to be so loud and extroverted, making it hard to make friends. I was tremendously different; I was quiet in class because class participation was not necessary back home. But that made me seem introverted to others--as if I had no voice of my own. The students in my school seemed to have an attitude, but it wasn’t long before I noticed that it was natural for them. Their attitude exuberated just through body language alone. For example, they did not look directly at the adult speaking to them nor were they quiet throughout classes. I did the same things my peers did. I did not look at any adults as they spoke to me and I even went so far as to laugh when I was reprimanded--now that is the ultimate disrespect. In my country, any form of attitude is wildly disrespectful and completely unacceptable. So when I naturally accepted this “attitude” and displayed it at home, my family would not have it. In time, I developed two different personalities; one personality for school and another for my family in order to fit in at school, while holding to my household expectations.
There were many other aspects of my newfound life that was difficult to adjust to. The food, as an example tasted weird, and was mightily indigestible, especially cheese. It tasted milky rather than like cheddar. The water was indescribable; it just did not taste like the water I was used to. I found it hard to get used to such mixed cultures in one city, for in Jamaica, it was mostly Jamaicans. In my country we do not celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving so I was not used to the fuss of dressing up for Halloween and cooking a feast for Thanksgiving. Our traditions were so different; when my American friends were trick-or-treating, I was at home because my culture does not partake in that. Yet of all the shocks, nothing was worse than witnessing that in Brooklyn, a community was not involved with raising a child; only the parents are involved. In Jamaica the saying “it takes a village” is strongly portrayed as family, neighbors, teachers and even strangers instill values in a child. These are values that are expected from the whole community.