Today I arrived at Ellis Island, a journey’s end! The main port for the United States was Ellis Island so we arrived there. But Ellis Island was still unfinished. Eventually, we went upstairs where there was an interpreter. We all stand in one single line waiting to be examined by the doctors. What’s shocking is that the doctors in Ellis Island examined more than five thousand immigrants per day. All checking for abnormalities and diseases. Even poor eyesight, mental problems, disability, and deformation led to immediate deportation. But later in the year, doctors spent less time on patients, I’m guessing the medical restriction aren’t that strict anymore. If no problem arose during the review of the manifest information, they were let go free to join their relatives. But in 1917, the President of the United States ordered that immigration officials have to check closer on each immigrant. Third-class passengers have to come to Ellis Island. My first impression of Ellis Island is that it's something that I’ll never forget as all the different nationalities. My first meal in beautiful America was fish and milk. I mean it wasn’t that bad. I drank a lot of milk because it was pretty rare, I guess we don’t have many, in my home country. I saw wired fences around Ellis Island. It was a detention area where people were rejected from entering the United States of America. All the people crying and laughing. It was the Island of Hope, the Island of Tears.
In Ellis Island, if you knew the language, they couldn’t take advantage of you. But if you don’t know the language, they can do whatever they want. This is what European immigrants faced. While on Ellis island, I met a lot of people from different countries. I met boys and girls from the same country as mine. I did not expect to find them here in the United States. I brought my most prized item to America. I saw this one woman carrying a bundle of thousands of feather beds brought over from European. The $25 rule came from the agents working for the city and countryside. America is the land of the Free, home for the homeless, but only if you can show $25 a head at Ellis Island. It used to be $10 for the lower class but now everyone, no matter what class, has to pay twenty-five dollars. At Ellis Island, it was mostly tears of joy. Because family member can see their kids, husbands, and wives.
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Ellis Island was no place for women to travel alone. I saw a woman get discriminated against. This was all before the Women’s Rights. Many young women who came to America to get married were thought to be imported for prostitution. Women not married in the US were sent back to Europe. Men would come to Ellis Island all prepared to marry before admissions. But soon World War 1 came along. Ellis Island shut down. As time goes on, the number of arrests of aliens increased. The arrested people were sent to Ellis Island to be deported but it was impossible to deport them back to Europe because of the war going on. Ellis Island suffered massive damage.
When I arrived I exchanged all my Euros for United States currency. I bought a ticket to Buffalo. The immigration officer helped me get there. The trip to Chicago was hard. You’ll never see your brother no more. When I came to Chicago, a black man approached me and showed me which train to board. Arriving in the United States felt sadness. In New York, there were lots of communities from different parts of the world. The Chinese, the Germans, the Hungarians, the Poles, and more. With the Land of the Free, all the Jews can practice their own religion. If they did that in their home countries, it would cause problems. It’s not just New York and Chicago with the diversity. It’s also Wisconsin and Iowa. Even staying in America, I had trouble learning English. That’s me at twenty-eight years old. If I have known the language, I would’ve made everything easier. I started working at a railroad. It ran through factories and farms. I also built dams, and bridges laid down roads and expanded the city. Even with the wage so low, I worked in a very dangerous job.
When I came to America, I left behind families, the friends of childhood, first love, homes, sounds, smells, and tastes. My grandma said that if she hadn’t met her husband, grandpa, the Kansas State Fair wouldn’t exist. I am pretty lucky. Most of my family members went to America, but some of my family members stayed in Poland and Russia. Vera Guaditsa’s mother came to America to be with her daughters. In America, she taught them Greek and went to Greek School a few times a week. Ida came to the United States to be a teacher. My first thought in America is that I don’t need to be scared of being attacked but in Europe, I always have to be cautious of people. I am very glad that I came to the United States to have a taste of Freedom and plenty of opportunity. I heard when poverty level people from Europe, and then came to the United States, they were no longer poor and had a better life.
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