On immigration day my group talked to two people, Peter and Shru.

Peter was 7 when he immigrated from the Netherlands to the U.S. He told us about how he came during world war 2. He told us about how he went to 1st grade three times, once in the Netherlands, once in a state I can’t remember right now, and once in Michigan. He also told us about how he learned English in school in the U.S. and how him and all his siblings spoke English in the house too so they could get better and his parents could learn.

Shru was an adult when she immigrated from India. She didn’t have a crazy story of how she came. Basically, she wanted to marry her fiance in the U.S., got her visa in less than six months, and moved. It’s pretty simple.

Overall, immigration day was an eye opening experience for me. Not because of Peter’s crazy story (though his story was crazy to hear) but, because Shru didn’t have a crazy story. Before immigration day I thought all immigrants were like Peter.

Two things I learned from the Saugatuck Center for the Arts Field Trip.

1. That the government is cruel to immigrants.
2. That it is hard to immigrate to america.

Have you ever watched the movie A Dollar a Day? If you haven’t maybe you should. My 7th grade class just watched this movie. It was a great movie, but it was also sad. It was sad because even though these guys went to get a perspective on what it’s like to live on a dollar a day. It didn’t change anything for the people in the village where they stayed. They just got a perspective. I bet it was hard for the the freshmen in college to go for 56 days but, then they went home and the people in the village were still in poverty. I know from the credits at the end of the movie that they made it so we can do something to help. They said in the credits that you can go to http://livingonone.org/

At the beginning of the the movie I saw some freshmen in college who were going to try and get some perspective. In the middle of the movie one of them got sick and they stayed anyway. It changed their lives to see those kids. I won’t spoil anymore of the movie for you, but you should go watch it. It’s on amazon prime. Just do it!