I still remember my first day of second grade. When I walked into the school building that day I didn't understand anything that was going on; every student was in line and there were random class numbers held up by various teachers. Yet my mom led me to a specific line and told me that she would be back to pick me up at 3pm. Glancing at the nearest clock, I noticed it was only 8am, and suddenly I had lost my ability to speak. My mom started to walk away, and I stood there confused and not ready for what was to come.
This isn't what the first day of second grade is supposed to look like. Children are supposed to be excited to see the friends they made in the first grade and ready to learn even more than before, but my experience was completely different. In the summer of 2003, my parents decided it was best for us to move to the U.S., as my father had been doing business trips between Poland and the U.S. for several years. My mom explained it to my brother and me as a temporary change in location, as she was not completely set on moving away to a completely different country at the age of 41, but my dad already knew that he wanted to stay in the States.
He believed that Poland wouldn't provide the necessary tools for me and my brother to succeed in the future and to earn well-paying, respectable jobs. What he didn't take into consideration was that my first day of second grade would be the worst day of my life. I didn't speak a word of English, even though my mom had hired an English tutor earlier on in the summer to teach me. I was seven years old and didn't understand why I had to learn English at all, since I assumed school in the US was the same as school in Poland. So, I showed up to the first day of school confused and unaware of anything that was going on.
I did eventually learn English, and they didn't have to put me in the first grade even though I didn't know English (it was probably because I cried in front of the principal about wanting to be in the second grade). Although the first two weeks of school were terrible and I didn't make any friends until a while after I learned some English, second grade was not as bad as the first day. I was often taken out of class to participate in ESL (English as a Second Language) programs, but i quickly learned how to read and write in English. By October of that year I had already made friendships that would last until today.
Although second grade was a difficult time for my seven year old self, I am extremely grateful for the fact that I had to suffer through that emotional rollercoaster. I often talk to my old friends in Poland and ask them about their goals and plans for the future, and they don't usually involve lots of educational opportunities. Many people in Poland don't even go to college because it's almost impossible to get a job, even with a college degree. Going to school in the US changes that completely. Throughout my middle and high school years, everyone I knew planned on attending college in the future, and although my second grade self would not understand or appreciate how important this is, I now know that the elementary school struggle was worth it.
I've never gotten to thank my parents for all the opportunities they've provided me with, which I guess is because I never realized how much they changed my life for the better. I could've been searching for a job, without a college degree, somewhere in Poland today, like most of the young adults there, but instead I am attending a top university and studying things I never knew I would get the chance to study. So this is a thank you to my parents for helping me become the best person I can be rather than pushing me towards a path that would've thwarted my success. I want them to know that even though second grade sucked, it was definitely all worth it.
