Ibrahim Toure

February 5, 2025

ESL 100-CE

New Life

When I was in Mali, coming to the U.S. for vacation used to be the best gift of the year my parents could offer me. When I was young, it was a dream to come and live like a real American. However, since I came back few months ago for the long term, I'm realizing that there are many obstacles I have to come through before integrating into the U.S. lifestyle. Moreover, I knew it was going to be hard to fit in this country having different origins, cultures and religion.

When I first arrived in the U.S., I knew already that I was going to have changes in my life. In Mali, I used to dress like I wanted to, depending on what was going through my mind. I could wear African clothes or American clothes. In Chicago, I tend to wear American clothes because I don't want people to look at me or act differently just because of how I am dressed. One day, I was out with my family going to an African party. I remember that we were all wearing traditional clothes and a kid and his father were just staring at us. Maybe because they realized that we were different, but I don’t want to look different all the time. I can meet different kinds of people while being in the U.S., so to avoid discrimination by some of them I had to change that part of my culture. On top of that, I am Muslim. I have to pray five times a day, but it is too hard to do that at the specific hours whether I am at school or even just hanging out. Because in this country, the majority has a different religion. When I go to school, I need to accumulate prayers until I get home. This is something I never thought I was going to worry about.

Despites my feelings of adaptation, I still love this country for many reasons. This country describes the kind of life I like and admire. A lot of Malians agree that most Americans don’t care about others. That is true, but some people here are very open minded and nice. They make me feel like home, especially when I’m at school. I like the way professors do their best to treat all the students equally. Furthermore, I enjoy all the super fun activities I get to do here, including roller coasters, escape rooms, ice skating and a lot more. In Mali people have a different way to have fun. In the U.S., I became passionate about Christmas and Thanksgiving like many Americans. During that season mostly anywhere I go, I see big decorations and lights. In addition, I am now a huge NFL fan, despite that I was unaware about what football was. These are all new things that I learned here and I enjoyed it.

Coming to the United States, I have changed a lot, but I also learned a lot. I was already expecting changes. That is why I used to say that I am going to live a new life. A life where I am going to avoid some part of my culture but practice new ones. I am a Malian by origin, and an American by birth. I hope that one day, I will be able to fully practice my native cultures in my birth country.