Level 8
The Three Effects of My First Move to a New City
Moving to a new place is a popular topic because there are many reasons for someone
who moves. Perhaps they move for a new job, perhaps for studies, perhaps for living with
someone. When we hear “moving,” that means many things. But for me, first of all, moving
means my family spent more money on me, then I lived far away from those who I loved and
what I liked. So its consequences were homesickness, and finally it was a new life to which I
had to adapt.
Some years ago, I was the winner of a great selection for a scholarship in a big city of
Vietnam. That was my reason for moving to Ho Chi Minh city, the biggest city of Vietnam. I
prepared a long time for this move. The first effect of this move is financial because it was
not just a simple move, it was an expensive move. My parents knew that when I moved to a
new town, I needed a lot of money. From Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city, I had to move by plane.
(In that period, taking the train was not safe. That’s why I took a flight even though we knew
it was very expensive.) My parents gave me all of their savings, and they told me that they
would do everything possible for my future. After moving to Ho Chi Minh city, I had to rent a
small room. I had a lot of worries. I devoted my first several days to shopping for necessities
for my new life: a bed, a coverlet, but what kind of bed? Where could I go shopping? This
city was strange to me, and I had never done this stuff when I was living with my parents.
I ran from place to place to buy what I needed for my new life, from clothes to books and
notebooks, from a small thing like a pencil to a big thing like a computer. In brief, I spent a
lot of money for “a thousand and one” things from my parents’ savings.
The day of the move approached. My parents were both happy and sad. They were
happy because this scholarship was an honor for my family, but they were sad because I had
to leave my parents, my brother and sisters, and they worried about me because they thought
I was not “grown up” enough to live alone. The separation was very painful. I didn’t want to
leave them. My mom cried so much. She said, “Who will take care of you when you are sick?
How can you cook?” (because she cooked every day for whole family). I told her, “Mom, I’m
grown up.” If the separation with my family was very painful, the one with my old friends was
not happy either. My boyfriend who couldn’t go with me was extremely sad. All my friends
were divided into parts. The ones who supported my move congratulated me because they
thought that it would be the best way for my future; the others thought that it was not good
for me because I would live in a place that I didn’t know anything about, where I wouldn’t
have friends. So, the last day before the move, there were some who cried, and others who
laughed. I took one round of my house
to say good bye to every close thing:
my house where there were so many
Nguyet Pham
Teacher: Allison Neeland, AM
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