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 For our migration and
culture class, we had to interview someone who had immigrated to the
United States from another country. One of my classmates, Gabriel
Di Eugenio, came to the US from Italy so I decided to interview him and
find out more about him and his story. Here is a picture of Gabe
in class presenting his family migration object. He brought an
Italian coffee maker. You can check out his web page for class
at:
http://www.west.asu.edu/koptiuch/Migration2004/GDiEugenio/index.htm
1. What year did you come to the US and where did you come
from?
“I came to Arizona from Rome, Italy two years ago this July.”
2. Did your whole family/extended family come?
“I came by myself, but my mum was already here. She had moved here from
Rome six years ago. However, she was born in the US and had always
wanted to come back.”
 3. Why did your family
decide to leave?
“I decided to come to America to finish school and be closer to my mum.
My mother also came here to go to school and she wanted to be closer to
her parents that live in L.A.”
4. Who/what was your bridge to America? Who, if anyone aided
the process?
“Obviously, I used my mum as my bridge to get me into the United
States. Because I was not yet 18 when I came, I was allowed to come and
live with her.”
5. What were some of the major things you/your
family had to adjust to in the US?
“As a result of my mother being American, my life in Italy had a lot of
American things involved in it so the adjustments were not that
drastic. I have gotten used to a lot of burgers and the language, other
than that I keep my Italian culture close to me.”
6. I know that you are a student, but what is
the rest of your family doing here?
“My mum is also still going to school.”
7. How have you perceived your treatment by
American Society as a whole? Do you feel you have been discriminated
against in any way?
“I don’t feel that way at all. It seems to me that Americans,
especially the women, love Italians. Plus, of course, you know I’m
pretty cool and easy to get along with.”
 8. How did you
deal with the language barrier? How long did it take for you to become
comfortable speaking English?
“Because my mom was American, I learned English back home and I also
studied it while I was in school. We spoke a lot of English at home in
Italy. I still have an accent, but it was real bad for my first six
months here and sometimes people had a hard time understanding what I
said.”
9. How do the people/your family in your
homeland perceive you now that you have left? Do you think that there
are any hard feelings or are they jealous?
“A lot of my friends and cousins that are the same age as me are very
jealous and always ask my all types or questions about what it is like
here. On the other hand, my grandparents on my father’s side have very
hard feelings that I moved here to live with my mum. They miss me and
wish that I was around more often.”
10. How often do you go back to visit?
“I usually make it back at least once a year. I was last over there a
year ago, but I am going back again at the end of May when I am all
done with school.”
11. Are you a United States citizen? If so, how
long did this process take and how did you go about it?
“Yes, I had dual citizenship while I was growing up in Italy. Because
my mum was a US citizen, and I was born through her, I automatically
became a citizen of the US.”
You can check out some of my thought on the interview with Gabe by
going here.
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