Larissa's Story

I moved from Honduras to Washington, D.C, USA in 2000. I moved here with my sister when I was 7 years old. I moved here to live with my parents. At first it was hard getting used to being here. Honduras and D.C are two very different places because in Honduras, people only speak Spanish and in the US they speak English. In Honduras, I lived with my grandparents, but here, I live with my parents. They are also two very different places because the schools are very different in many ways. But other than that, it wasn’t hard for me to get used to living here because almost everything looks the same and many Latinos that live here have the same customs. I was able to get used to the environment here very quickly.

            The environment around me changed a lot when I moved to Washington, D.C. Now, I have a closer relationship with my parents because I live with them and I have been with them for 7 years. But now I don’t remember much about my grandparents and other family that I used to be with in Honduras. It would be much harder for me to get used to the environment in Honduras because I’m used to being here and I understand more things in life now because I’m much older than before. At first I felt uncomfortable here because I didn’t have any friends and I didn’t know anybody. Also because the people act much different and do different things that create a much different environment. Many things in my life changed when I came to live in D.C.

            I faced some difficulties when I first moved to in Washington, D.C.  One obstacle I had was when I first came was that I didn’t know how to speak English and it was hard for me to communicate with other kids at school. Another obstacle I had was that I didn’t know the city and I wasn’t able to go out on my own. But then I was able to learn English very fast and make new friends. I was also getting used to living here and visiting new places. Looking back, I feel thankful for attending to the school I went to because they showed me a lot but it was still nothing like the school in Honduras. My life changed dramatically when I moved to the U.S.