When I came to America, I had hopes.
When I came to America, I was naive.
Six years ago I packed my bags and flew a long way from Caracas, Venezuela to Eugene, Oregon. I remember being very scared. I was only 17.
A year passed and my English got better. My fears got smaller. I moved to Denton, Texas to study broadcast journalism at the University of North Texas. I was now 18 and felt ready to conquer the world.
I was always a good student. Always focused, spent a lot of sleepless nights and always had a job to be able to help my parents with my rent and grocery expenses.
Graduation came sooner than I expected, I was now 21 and thankfully I was able to get a year-long work permit and got a full-time job as a news anchor and a reporter for Azteca TV
Surprise. I didn't get a work visa. Now what? Well I decided to go back to school to get a masters degree. But in what? All I have always wanted to do is to be a reporter. I ended up going back to the UNT Mayborn School of Journalism program and decided to study Public relations.
Public relations excites me, but I don't get the same feeling I get when I am covering a story. Every night I go to bed wondering if I'll ever be able to be a reporter again.
Now, after a year of studying public relations I realize that graduation will be here soon enough, and, again, I will have to get a year-long work permit but now I will not have a plan B like I did before. Now I do need a work visa. The problem is that I am not an engineer, nor a doctor nor a bilingual teacher.
I did all I could to be a great citizen to this foreign country. I am educated, I have never gotten any tickets, I pay taxes, I work...why can't I stay?
Others tell me to just take a certificate to become a bilingual teacher, and I will if I have to, but I can't stop thinking about all the hard work I have done and all the sacrifices I have made to come here.
Someday everything will make sense, but as in now, sometimes I do not know what my purpose is anymore.
When I came to America, I had dreams.
When I came to America, I had hopes.
When I came to America, I was naive.