Jingyu Zhang

9/11/2019

FIQWS 10105

Essay Assignment #1——The Diagnostic/Introductory Essay

Before I came to New York, I heard people say: “If you love someone, send him to New York because it is heaven; If you hate someone, send him to New York because it is hell.” Is New York heaven or hell? There are many distinct sides and definitions of New York. Different people have different opinions about New York, so it is both heaven and hell. New York is a multi-culture cosmopolis and it is a place that we can achieve our dreams. 

Three years ago, my family immigrated here. When I was in China, I really wanted to come here because the education in the United States is different from China. I prefer the way of education in the United States. Before I came to New York, it was the first year that I was in Chinese high school. The high school is the best one in my county, I felt stressed everyday. I had to wake up at 5:00 A.M. and arrive at school before 5:45. I had 15 classes everyday which including 7 self-study classes. All of the classes were finished at 9:50 P.M. I was tired. When I heard that we were going to immigrate to New York, I felt excited because I heard that high school in the United States is less stressful than the high school in China and there are more opportunities in New York. New York is one of the largest cities in the world, I could see many different things that I never seen before. 

We arrived at Newark airport on a night in May. After we got off the flight, I was like a dream. I saw people in different faces and colors, that was the first time I saw “foreigners”(The truth is that I was foreigner in the United States.). When I was on the way home, I saw there were a lot of buildings with lights on in New York and it showed that the city was prosperous. Also, I was thinking about our new home. It must be a house or apartment which is big and clean. Then I saw the apartment building we rented in Chinatown. It seemed a little bit old. We carried our luggage and went to the second floor, there was someone who opened the door for us. I got into the apartment that we rented, it was not what I expected. We shared the apartment with another family. We only had two bedrooms which were really small. I was disappointed. A 14 hours flight made us feel tired, we made up the rooms and went to bed.

I woke up in the early morning because of the time difference. After eating breakfast, I went out. It was crowded in Chinatown. I saw a large amount of Chinese people and Chinese characters. It seemed that I did not need to know any English if I lived in Chinatown. The streets in Chinatown are different from my county, I almost got lost in the complex network of streets. Also, some of the streets were dirty and smelly. I heard the noise of the train which was going on the bridge. I thought it was strange that the subway crossed over the bridge, it should be under the ground.

There are many famous landmarks in New York. I went to the pier which is near Chinatown, I saw Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge with lights on. They are attractive at night. I got on the Brooklyn Bridge by the navigation on my phone. I felt the wind blowing and saw the grand and bright buildings in the downtown of Manhattan. There were some cruises on the East River and parties are going on. I went to Times Square, it was not like what I imagined. It was just a crossing with lots of screens which made it bright all the day even at night. It was a place that full of tourists from all over the world. But we had to admit that midtown of Manhattan was full of high-rise buildings. That was not only prosperous, but also crowded. The Statue of Liberty is one of the most famous places in New York. I went to there with my sister. When we arrived at The Battery, we did not know how to get the ticket. I asked someone and I barely could understand what he said because of my poor English. I felt if I was out of Chinatown, I could not communicate with others. It made me feel nervous. English is a serious problem for new immigrants. My sister’s English was worse than mine. She had already graduated from college in China, so she decided to go back to China and find a job. After she left, I felt lonely. My parents had to work all day. I stayed at home alone on my first birthday in New York. 

The situation became better at the end of June. I went to the summer school in high school and made several friends. We had trips every Friday, our teacher brought us to visit some museums or parks. I remember once we visited American Museum of Natural History on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It was one of the largest museums in the world and has many exhibitions of human cultures, natural world and the known universe which I has never seen before. We made cameras by ourselves and the teacher brought us to the parks to take pictures. Also, we went to the Bronx Zoo. I saw many kinds of animals in the zee, such as rhinoceroses, elephants, deers and zebras. The trips in summer school helped me to make friends and I did not feel lonely anymore. It made my life in New York became interesting. However, when I hung out with my friends, I was always not willing to spend too much money because my parents worked hard. Therefore, my friends suggested that I could find a part-time job. It was hard for me to find a job, I asked many shops and got into a bakery finally. I worked after school and made money for myself. At the beginning, it was hard for me to work because I did not have an experience of work before. Even if the salary was very low, I still felt satisfied. Sometimes I could go shopping with my friends and our favorite place to go was Sephora. I liked to watch movies and I often went to AMC Empire 25 to watch the movies that I was interested. I felt more comfortable to spend money that I made. I joined several clubs in high school and I volunteered every weekend. My life became interesting. 

The longer I lived in New York, the more things I can felt. We could see garbage or scraps of paper, poor and riches in New York. Like what Joan Didion narrates in “Goodbye to All That”, it says: “It is often said that New York is a city for only the very rich and the very poor. It is less often said that New York is also, at least for those of us who came here from somewhere else, a city for only the very young.” We can see the divide of rich-poor clearly in New York.  There are many homeless people on streets or in the subway stations and there are also many people who have expensive clothes and bags. New York is a good place for the young to achieve their dreams because there are many opportunities here. New York is a city that never makes people feel bored because there are many fresh news and interesting people that you can know. We can explore many things in New York. Additionally, New York is a cultural melting pot in the world. People lived here are from all over the world, wherever you come from you can gain a feeling of belonging here, everyone can be New Yorker. In New York, you do not need to worry about that your accent when you speak English. You can taste food from different countries. You can see the busy streets and bright buildings even at dead of night. Although some places in New York are dirty and noisy, that is not unusual for the city that always has concerts, art exhibitions, photographic exhibitions, parades and political meetings. It is always with vitality.

Recently, my family is getting better than before. We moved to another larger apartment and we do not need to share it with others. I am in college now, even though my English is still not good and I always feel stressed, I will work harder and try my best to learn. I would like to stay in New York in the future because it is full of opportunities to make my dream come true.