Immigration interview with Anca Booth

by Srebrina Ayladanova
Anca Booth (Maiden name Draghicescu) is a Romanian-American, who immigrated to the
U.S.A. ten years ago. She is also my classmate and together we conducted this interview. When I
asked her how does she pronounce her name, she replied that she always tell people that the correct
pronunciation is Anca like in Bianca, because some people say Enka with \e\ as in bet. Her
native language is Romanian, which many do not know that it is a Latin language, in the same
family with French, Spanish, and Portuguese. I then asked if she has brought any specific traditions
with her that she celebrates with her American husband and she asserts that she did not. They
celebrate together Christmas, New Year, Easter, Thanksgiving, and 4th of July holidays mostly
traditional for Americans. The extent to which individuals identify with a particular ethnic group
varies considerably, and some may identify with more than one (pg.26)
European American people came from a wide array of places western and southern portions of
Europe as well as the eastern portion and the Soviet Union. (pg.144) She immigrated from
Romania, in the summer of 2006. When I asked her what was going on there at that time, she tried
to remember, but nothing special stood out her. Anca added that the reason for her to leave the
country was not political there was not a crisis, dictatorship, civil unrest, etc. However, she was
certain about one thing the poverty and the corruption were something she lived through her
whole life there.
Anca arrived in the U.S.A. by plane. She flew Air France and had two connections in France and
in New York. It was her first time leaving the country and the first time flying. Before boarding
the connection plane in France, the airport security pulled all Romanian passport holders to the
side and checked the inside of their carry-ons. She told me she had pepper spray in one of her bags
and a Christmas ornament that she got as a gift. The security did not notice or care about the pepper
spray, but they asked extensive questions about the Christmas ornament, because they thought it
was a weird thing to carry in your purse in the summer. She remembers the whole incident and the
concerned security agents as a funny story. When I asked her how she was feeling when she
arrived, she said she remembers having an overwhelming feeling of excitement, mixed with fear.
She stated that the main reason that pushed her to immigrate was the corruption. Anca always felt
very disappointed in Romania her whole life there. There was that feeling of injustice in everyday
life and she remembers she seethed over it and complaining to her family about it. Constantly
wondered why is it that the rich kids in her country get good grades because they buy them, and
she had to work so hard for them. She was demotivated to stay because she was seeing how smart
people around her end up working minimum wage jobs, and the few good jobs were obtained
through connections and money. She did not want to spend her life struggling to live day-to-day
with a paycheck running out before the month ends. She felt like she had only two options to
either live in poverty as an honest person or become the unscrupulous person she hated. Also, the
leadership of Romania were so openly corrupt, that there was no hope that change will ever
come from the top. Constantly seeing on TV mayors of small towns driving around in

Source: Manning, M. Lee, and Leroy G. Baruth. Multicultural Education of Children and
Adolescents. Boston: Pearson, 2009.

Lamborghinis and living in luxurious villas, because they stole the towns money and sold the
public forests for illegal timber, was disheartening. Growing up in a mountain town and seeing
trucks illegally deforesting the forests around her day and night, in front of everybody, including
reporters and police, meant that there was no hope that things will change anytime soon. The theft
of public funds was so widespread and extreme, that the roads in Romania were (and still are)
practically non-existent. The common practice for every level government employee was to take
a chunk of these funds for themselves, so only the cheapest materials were used. When police
pulled you over, offering a bribe would be common practice, and they would even ask for it. Even
going to the doctor or dentist meant paying bribes. When her mom had to spend a few nights in
the hospital, her family had to bribe the doctor to visit her, and they even had to bribe the nurses
to come check on her, bring her food and change the bed sheets.
When I asked her if she went through the entire process on her own, she responded that she did.
Ancas immigrant status is permanent resident, even though she has been eligible for many years
to apply for the citizenship.
I asked her to explain the process of gaining permanent residency. She described it as very
complicated, long and expensive. Anca had to go to the process twice, because the first time she
only received a temporary card, that was good for two years. She assumes that the 2-year period
is trial period that shows if you have been a good resident and if you do not fail it, you will be
granted with a green card. The second time she had to repeat the same process, which included
fingerprints, interviews, tons of paperwork, money spent, and waiting for months for a response.
She pointed out that bureaucracy played a big factor on not applying for her citizenship yet.
Anca explained that oftentimes, the process requires hiring a professional, like she did, to help
with the paperwork, because USCIS will send everything back to the applicant to be refilled for
the smallest mistake, and then that person has to pay for filing again. Plus, a small mistake could
cost them months and months in delays. She hired a lawyer the first time, and a paralegal the
second time.
My next question was about her expectations and how accurate they were. She said that her
expectations were more than met. She then said her initial intensions were not to immigrate, but
just to work and make some money and go back to Europe. She shared with me that she was more
inclined to immigrate somewhere in Europe. However, she was impressed by America, in many
ways. Immigrants come to the United States for a number of reasons: Some planned to earn
money and return to their home country, whereas others planned to make the United States their
home. (pg.145) The fact that she was making more money than she could have ever made in
Romania made her think that her life here would be more comfortable. Anca was able to imagine
a bright future for herself here, something that she was never able to imagine while living in
Romania. Before coming to America she has seen it as the land of opportunities and, coming from
a country with few opportunities, America seemed to not disappoint. She thought that it was so
easy to get a job here, and jobs were so much better paid than in Romania. Anca commented that
the minimum wage here has not been raised in years and it is basically impossible to live a decent
life on minimum wage, but back then, it seemed like a lot of money to her. She gave me a better
perspective of the situation, comparing it to the minimum wage in Romania at that time, which
was somewhere around $100-$150 a month. She said she was expecting people to be nice, and
then reaffirmed to me that her expectation was definitely met, even though she was robbed three

Source: Manning, M. Lee, and Leroy G. Baruth. Multicultural Education of Children and
Adolescents. Boston: Pearson, 2009.

times in the first few months here. Before continuing, she expressed her concern how very
unfortunate it is that, recently, this country has been experiencing so much hatred. Never in her 10
years here, she added, have she felt so much divisiveness and hatred. She concluded that, for the
first time in her 10 years here, it is the first time she feels disappointed with the US. Although we
continue to hope for greater acceptance and recognition of cultural diversity, we must report that
socioeconomic and societal inequities, racism, prejudice, and ethnocentrism continue in the United
States. (pg. 42)
Anca listed the many things that she loves about America. First and foremost, she considers herself
American, because she lived most of her adult life here, and she feels a little bit like a stranger
when she goes back and visits Romania. Another thing is the ocean of opportunities. She was able
to buy and own a business - a hair salon. After owning it for about a year, she realized it was not
for her, and sold it at the beginning of this year. She was able to buy her first house on her own
after being in the US for about 5 years, coming from Romania with $50 in her pocket. She likes
the relaxed way about Americans. At first, she thought it was ridiculous that people would go to
the store in their pajamas. She has changed her mind in time, and now, when she goes to Romania
and other European countries and people dress up with or without any occasion, she feels grateful
that there is a lot less pressure here about dress codes. The relaxed American attitude and dress
code seem a lot more honest to her. Other things she loves about living in the US are: the excellent
quality of roads, the relatively low level of corruption, the strong feelings that people have towards
freedom, liberty, democracy and justice, the beautiful country, that has very organized and nice
national parks and tourist attractions.
Then I was interested to learn what difficulties she had faced. She replied that nothing really
difficult comes to mind. However, she could mention some annoyances, but would not go as far
as calling them difficulties. People of differing cultural backgrounds might not view the attitudes
and behaviors of the dominant group appropriate for them. (pg.39) Anca does not like the level
of consumerism, but understands that it is a natural consequence of extreme capitalism, that has
been successful here. She said her American family thinks she is weird because she hates wasting
so much. She hates throwing anything away, because that is how she was raised. She hates using
20 plastic bags every time she goes grocery shopping, so she uses reusable bags or try not to bag
anything. Many Americans though do not seem to have a problem with using plastic bags once
and then throwing them in the trash. Same goes with the kinds of cars Americans drive. The bigger
the better, and she often does not understand why people need huge, gas-guzzling trucks, unless
they have a business or they need to haul things daily. Another annoyance is the prevalence of guns
in this country. Lately, a difficulty has been the resurfacing of racism, discrimination, bigotry and
violence. The sometimes extreme religious facet of this country is an annoyance: She does not like
seeing religion mixing with public policy. And lastly, an annoyance would be the two-party
political system and the voting system. She would like an open-list system, where you have as
many votes as candidates.
Toward the end of the interview, I asked her if she has ever experienced any culture shock and
was it hard to adapt. She admitted she did. Being away from her roots has caused her to be
depressed sometimes. Having no family and friends was challenging. Having to fend for herself
and survive, not having anyone to help her. Building a life for herself from zero, with no money to
start with, none of her schooling recognized, no connections, savings, house or a car. She felt her
transition to adulthood was more forceful. However, at the end of our talk, she cheerfully
concluded that she managed to adapt to the life in her new home the U.S.A.

Source: Manning, M. Lee, and Leroy G. Baruth. Multicultural Education of Children and
Adolescents. Boston: Pearson, 2009.