An Immigrants Travels to the U.S.

Dear Mama and Papa

Dear Mama and Papa,

     My experience in the new land has been both good and bad. The trip was the worst part though, since I was in steerage. There were rats running around trying to find crumbs that some people had dropped. They weren't very lucky because we didn't get much food and we ate as much as we could, not wasting anything. It also smelled horrific and many people had some type of sickness. About a third were crawling with contagious diseases and an eighth of us were either sea sick or at least a little healthy. Bedtime was the worst because there was always someone's foot in my face and the little kids are always loud. When I went outside it wasn't as noisy and I got to watch dolphins follow our boat and they jumped out of the water with glee.

     At first I lived in New York City for nine months, but since my job moved me, I live in Jersey City, New Jersey now. The trip only took seven hours, which wasn't as long as I thought it was going to be. I tried to make my home look like Galway as much as I could when I moved but I don't have much free time. I miss Ireland so much and there's nothing here that reminds me of home, except for my decorations scattered around my house. My favorite decoration is a huge map that I drew on my wall and I have labeled as much as I could of it.

     Before I could get a home I had to spend two weeks in Ellis Island. It wasn't that bad but they asked everyone lots of questions since I was in steerage I was also stripped in a private room for a health check. Thankfully I was one of the healthy ones. All they really did was they told me specific instructions and I followed them most of them with ease. During the time that we were at Ellis Island we had to sleep in massive rooms with hundreds of beds and there was a curfew of 9:00 pm. They also asked us questions to test our skill of English, thank the lord that we Irishmen speak English. They also had made better food than the cooks on the boat.

     Life here can be harder than Ireland at times for many reasons. One is that I hardly get any sleep. When I do get sleep, I get, at most, four to five hours. Since I'm not allowed to miss a day of work, even if I'm sick or hurt, I'll be fired if I'm not there for one day. I've only had five days off for the seven years I've been in the United States. Other things that I hate are the crowded buildings of the city and the mean people that live here. I can be walking down the street and someone will come up and start yelling at me. Since primary school, we were forced to learn Gaelic, I start talking to them in Gaelic and they were confused so they just leave, I still giggle when I do that. The crowded buildings are another story. When I came to the city all I really wanted to see where rolling green hills that I could sit on, but everywhere I looked I saw really tall buildings.

     Minus all the negative things I've said, there are some good things about the city. First, they have a pretty ocean view. On one of my days off, I took a stroll down the street and saw the passage way back home. It was so pretty that I had to sit down because I was standing too long. The girl with a brown crown on her head was standing in the middle of the passage way. I also saw these things hopping out of the ocean, so happily, as a group. They have little pointy things on their backs and they are gray. After ten minutes of looking at them I finally figured out that they were dolphins. The sad thing is I had to leave the pretty ocean so I could go to bed.

     One of the few things that Ireland doesn't have is different races. On a normal day I usually see many Chinese, other Irish immigrants, Italians, and many others. There are some similarities between Galway and New Jersey, like if you go out of the city you'll see trees and green hills. I've never been outside of the city since the move from New York City to Jersey City. Something else that's similar, is life can be hard over here like it can be at home. Other than that there's not much else that would be important that I could explain.

     I really miss you, Mama and Papa. I wish I was back home so I had family that I can have fun with and I wouldn't be so alone. Now that I've made new friends at work I'm not as alone but it can still get lonely without you at home making dinner and welcoming me through the door. I hope that you're having a good time back home in Galway. I love all of you and I hope that one day I'll make enough money for you to come over seas in first class.

From your loving daughter,

Sile Clancy

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