Book 1, Post 2 

After reading "American Like Me" by American Ferrera, I know now that I am not alone. The narratives within the book have helped shift my understanding of identity and belonging. The book almost felt like a group therapy session because of all of the different stories being told. My favorite story was by Kumail Nanjiani, the Hollywood actor as I was able to relate to his story the most. Kumail, like myself, moved to the US for college so learning about his story and the culture shock that he faced was good in a way. For my own selfish reason, it reminded me that I am not alone, and all the culture shock that I faced as a freshman who moved from Dubai to the US, it is normal. I just wish that I had been told this earlier as it would have certainly made feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin. I particularly love the title as it's so apt. 

Even though my parents didn't immigrate to the US, they did however, move to Dubai for a better life for me and my sister. I've always appreciated their sacrifice, but through reading the different excerpts, in a way it made me feel even more grateful for my parents. As we often forget the sacrifices that others made for us, but this book had gotten me teary, which no other book has been able to do.

Through every story, I felt that I was able to see a little bit of myself. I am usually not a big reader, but with this book, I was able to read it quite quickly and so for that I thank all of the authors for keeping it light. This book also made me reflect on my own childhood, which I now realize I took for granted, it made me more grateful for my own life and it may sound corny, but I feel as if I have a different outlook to my life in America. I say this because at first, I was hesitant to come here and particularly my freshman year I did not enjoy my time here as I was so far away from family, but now I am so thankful to my parents because it is due to them that I am now able to pursue the American dream.