Chanel Kucharczyk
Homeland?
Poland
Year Immigrated to United States?
2012
Age when immigrated?
12
Why did you leave your country?
I came to United States for summer vacation and stayed for school
What had you heard about the United States? What expectations did you have?
I had family living in United States for around 20 years before I moved. I always received big packages from them with many different clothes and snacks. My expectation were for everything to be big, cheap, and for many people to have a lot of cool technology.
Did you leave your family behind?
Yes. I left my mom and my twin sister and my grandpa in Poland. I left more of my family members but those are the closest.
Where in the United States did you arrive?
New York
What was the journey like?
I was on the direct flight from Warsaw with my sister. We didn’t know English and were only 12 so we had a flight attendant help us. It was scary and exciting. There were no issues crossing the border. The flight was around 9 hours.
What was your first job in the United States?
I had my first summer job when I was 14/15. I worked at a small office at LaGuardia Community College. I remember working on some excel forms and calling students about their classes.
Did you attend school in the United States? What was it like?
I started 8th grade in America. It was very different from what I was used to. In Poland we don’t start school with home room. We go straight to class. We also don’t have a long lunch period. We get 5-15 breakfast between each class to relax and eat. We also don’t eat in the cafeteria. We eat in class or hang out at the hallways. In high school it was kinda like I saw in American movies so it was very exciting at the beginning. In Poland we don’t have lockers in the hallways.
As time has passed, how does your experience in the United States compare to what you expected?
Living in United States is a lot of work. People in Poland think that people in America have big houses and go on great vacation with only their 9 to 5 jobs. My family here works 24/7 for what they have. Back in Poland my mom would get home at 4pm and be in bed rest of the day. I never saw her being busy like I see my family here.
Has your cultural identity changed? If yes, how?
Sometimes when I speak to my polish friends in Poland I feel like I’m a fake. I don’t really know any new polish musicians, shows, celebrities, trends or even politics. I take pride in my polish last name and that I grew up there but I can’t fully relate to people my age that lived in Poland their whole lives.
How do you maintain your culture and customs of your home country? Is it difficult to do so?
I always speak polish at my house. We also celebrate Christmas and Easter the same way we would celebrate it in our country. We also make polish meals and go to polish deli to get polish snacks.
What was the best thing about your immigrant experience? What has been the most difficult or challenging? Are there any times you felt welcomed or unwelcomed as an immigrant?
The best I would have to say all the opportunities I have. I could never grow as a person if I still lived in Poland. Moving here taught me how to be hardworking and how to work towards my goals. The most challenging would be being away from my family at such a young age and learning the language. Learning the language itself wasn’t too difficult, it came naturally with time. However, my mentality of “I’ll never learn, I can’t do it” was hard to get rid off.
What do you wish more people knew about immigrants?
I wish that people that live in United States and have everything they want without working too hard for it could really appreciate it. I think that all Americans should experience themselves how people live in other countries for at least a week. That could really help everyone to understand each other better.
What are some important things people could do to make the process of coming to a new country better?
Personally my experience was very good. My school was very helpful and classmates were accepting. The only thing was that I was the only polish person inter school but it’s not something that could be controlled. I think that anyone would appreciate if people were just nice and accepting and would judge after just looking at the person.