Adriana Briceno
CEP 121.0427
Essay 1, final draft
April 2, 2008
V
As a young girl, I never imagined how my life was going to change the way it did. I was
born and grew up in Colombia. I am the third of four siblings. My mother raised us alone
because my parents got divorced when I was eight. My mother worked two jobs in order to give
us what we needed. It wasn’t easy for her, or for any of us, back then. But even with all these
difficulties, I graduated from high school and soon started college. I enrolled at Jorge Tadeo
Lozano University, unfortunately, many personal issues interrupted my college education, I
never completed my degree. Still, when I look back on this, I see that leaving my education on
“standby”, I was able to make another dream come true that I had since I was a teenager.
I always dreamed of traveling around the world, especially to New York City. I
remember imagining myself walking in the streets of Manhattan. I never thought that this dream
would one day allow me to accomplish the most important challenge of my life. Learning
English as a second language.
I will never forget the first day I saw Manhattan. Finally my dream came true. I was in
the most exciting city in the world. I can say now, that I fell in love with New York the first time
I saw it. It was the feeling of love at first sight. I walked for hours but soon, I also realized that I
did not understand a single word. I could not talk with anyone, and I needed someone all the time
to translate everything. My aunt, who welcomed me in her house and in her family, did not speak
English either. I stayed in her house watching television. I was bored. I missed my family,
especially my mom. I wanted to go back to them, but I also wanted to learn English.
I decided to find a school. I went to many colleges looking for a good English course.
However, I could not afford any of them. I found a small institute in Manhattan. I started school
but then another problem came up. The $400 that my mom had given me for my trip was almost
gone. I needed money, so I needed to find a job. I had two choices. Get one in the Hispanic
stores, or to force myself to get a job where my first language was not needed. It was a hard
decision, but I did not want to be like one of my relatives. Who has lived in this country for more
than twenty years and still can’t speak or read in English. She always worked with persons who
spoke Spanish and therefore was never forced to learn the language.
In “Living Image”, the photo studio where I started to work, no one except a girl called
Adriana spoke Spanish. My boss was from China, so the use of English was required all the time.
On my first day I did not understood a word coming out of his mouth, but for some reason we
managed to understand each other. I knew that I needed to stay there in order to learn English.
He helped me a lot by correcting me when I made a mistake. Some days he helped me with my
homework. I also forced myself to speak with the customers, and by doing that, it made me lose
the fear that I had of the language. I remember going to school for four hours and then working
eight everyday. I was tired, but little by little my sacrifice gave me small but great results. Also
at home I asked my cousins to speak to me in English all the time, and after a couple of months
in school and work, I was able to read in English. I always carried a dictionary in my purse,
which was the best idea I ever had.
After three years of working, I left the store. I felt that I was ready for something better. I
have worked many jobs after my first one. I became a waitress and I also worked in an office.
What did it takes for me to accomplish all of this? I never gave up on the process of
learning and I was always motivated to improve. I always thought of my mother and all the
sacrifices she made for us. And after many years, I never stopped believing in myself. I want to
learn as +much as I can. I want to be able to succeed in anything that I plan for today or for the
future.
My next step is to follow my dreams even further. I want to travel around the world. I
would like to visit Europe and work there if possible. I have lived in New York City for almost
10 years. And I will never regret all the experiences that I have had here, but it would be a
terrific experience to be able to go to another country and learn different cultures and languages.
I know that I might have many difficulties trying to reach my dream. But this is what I want to
do, and I am going to find a way to do it. Before I was scared. Now it is different. I have more
confidence in myself than I ever had in the past. I also want to finish my college education. I am
in the process of reaching that goal, but what makes me happy everyday is knowing that I
learned English and the dream that I never thought possible is happening now. I am going to
finish my degree this time. And this is the most important joy in my life.