Rania Yessoufou

February 15, 2025

ESL 100

 Adjusting to a New Life

If I was asked to use a word or two to define my new life in Chicago, I would use the words basic and unexpected. Basic because in Chicago I don’t have many friends so I am living a monotonous life routine. I wake up, go to class then go to work and then come back home. Unexpected because that was not how I imagined living here. When I was living in Benin, I almost never did the same thing every week. My mother always made sure my siblings and I did interesting activities such as painting, going to art exhibitions, dinner with family or friends and many other things. I miss a lot of things from my home country, but I have learned how to love Chicago in its own way.

        Benin is a West African country, especially known for its voodoo culture, but what most people do not understand or do not know is that not everyone living in Benin worships voodoo. There are other religions such as Christianity, Islam and many others that I don’t even know . Since I arrived in Chicago, I realized that many people don’t really know Benin, and when I wanted to locate it, I had to use Nigeria. Benin is the country where people do black magic , voodoo and I reply sure it is but not everyone. By the way, I am muslim. In addition, I am very nostalgic about certain things from my home like the new year and the month of Ramadan. At home,  my family and I celebrated the new year with a lot of festivity. In my family, we all gather at my grandmother’s house, and bring a lot of drinks and snacks, and my grandmother cooked the food. One of my aunties is charged with bringing fireworks, my elder brother played the music, and the whole family danced, ate and drank all night. The other thing I like doing with my family is fasting during the Ramadan month. In Islam, Ramadan is the month of the year, Muslims fast and pray a lot because as it’s said all sins could be forgiven during that special month. Back at home, I was always very excited when Ramadan approached because during that month my mother was the best cook ever. She made so many delicious meals at night. I also liked Ramadan because, every morning and night the whole family prayed together. When I asked my aunt who I live with here in Chicago how she celebrated Ramadan, she said nothing special, she goes to work and then comes back. Basic! I miss so many things from my country but that doesn’t mean that I dislike everything from Chicago.

        I have not  been in Chicago for very long but there are some things I already enjoy and integrated in my life. I came for my studies almost two months ago, but I spent two months here last summer for holidays with my little sister and brother. For holidays, I would say Chicago is a very good choice because there are many places to have fun such as six flags, museums, Navy pier and many other places. Now that I came for studies and that I will be living here for perhaps the next ten years, I see things differently. I know it is very weird, but I like taking public transports here in Chicago because for me they are very calm in contrast to public transports of where I come from. The cta transports here are safe and clean most of the time, so it is a pleasure for me to take the bus. Another thing I noticed and that I like is that from what I have noticed people from Chicago are very loving. That is my point of view because, since I am here, people often pay me compliments on the street, or even in public transport. I have also noticed that the majority are welcoming, because when I was new here and had to take the bus on my own for the first time, I struggled a lot and one day a nice lady came to me for help and helped me find my bus and told me what I should do every time. I also love Chicago for the stores and brands available. In Benin there are a few popular brands although there are many local brands. I love Target, Zara, Primark, Sephora and many others easily available here. Until now, my experience of living in Chicago is not horrible at all, just a little bit boring but at least it is peaceful. I can’t wait to make good friends with whom I will be able to hang out with and get to know even more of Chicago.

I miss a lot of things from home, especially my family and how we celebrated holidays, but I had to give up all of those things to adapt better to my new life in Chicago. Chicago is a very lovely city, so I don’t regret choosing it for my studies. I just hope that with time, it gets better. I am the kind of person who likes staying at home but at the same time going out to know about the world. I would love to find something to make my life here more interesting and even try not to miss all those big holidays at home. The word I would use to define my future life in Chicago is patience because without patience, I will completely dislike the city.