Many people have a different concept of the American dream. People think it will be easy to accomplish it, but they have no idea what people who come here to America go through to accomplish where they want to be, and sometimes they don’t achieve their goals. I interviewed my grandmother Maria and she told me her perspective of the American dream and everything she did to try and accomplish her goal.

When Maria came to America for a better life and a better education for her children. She faced many difficulties while coming here. Maria brought her 3 kids, including my mother to America by train. They were to be sitting for a long time, they were on their way to America to help Maria's American dream come true. My mother and her two older siblings came with their aunt they got it easy, my grandmother faced the difficult part. Without papers, Maria chose the only option available: crossing through the desert. while crossing the border was very difficult for her, it involved a lot of walking day and night. Walking through the desert at night is a scary event to do, I've been told. You are obligated to walk to a certain point where a car is going to pick you up, if you don’t you will die in the desert . On the way there are some people that go around and steal money from others, luckily that did not happen to maria but it did happen to others she was traveling with. Till this day Maria can’t forget the experience she went through to reach America.

Another problem my grandmother faced while having to come to America was to leave her family back, she found it difficult to do so. When she came, she left behind her husband. In my interview she stated that “ dejar a mi papá fue Lo mas' dificil, que yo a tenido que hacer en toda mi vida” meaning that leaving her father was the hardest decision she has done all her life. Maria was very attached to her father, my great grandpa, she couldn't bear to leave him. Maria made the biggest decision of leaving her father and coming to America with her mother and her kids.

Maria didn't only leave her home (Mexico) for a better education, for herself as well. She liked to study because her father would push her to do so. She tried so hard to go back to school when she came to America. That was her American dream, then to go back to school and complete it. But she found it complicated because she only made it up to elementary. She said that “yo quisiera hoping it would be.

Maria's American dream changed over the course of the years, she saw that nothing was what she was hoping for. She wasn’t able to gain an education, she wasn’t able to earn a well-paying job because she was undocumented. Now her American dream till this day is for her family to succeed and be something in life, now that she couldn't.regresar a la escuela, pero soy bien burra para eso y solo llegue a la primaria”. Maria said she was proud of herself for finishing elementary that was one other thing she remembers the most about her childhood. That after she graduated, they threw a party for her and even though she was small she still danced and celebrated , and she said it was the most memorable because she said “ después de la fiesta mi papa me dio una muñeca que yo adoraba” meaning that her father gave her a doll that she loved so much.

When Maria first came to America her American dream and her goals were to work and to help out her mother Maria Guadalupe out. While she achieved the goal of helping her mother, she didn't go back to school because tending to her children’s education took precedence. When Maria came to America she wasn't so young, she was 33 years old and already with 3 kids she dealt with. Maria stated that “ yo solo vine a Los Estados Unidos para que mi familia tenga una vida mejor ya que yo no puedo” meaning that she came for her family and gave up on her American dream, it wasn't nothing like she was

Marias American dream changed over the course of the years because she saw that nothing was what she was hoping for. She couldn’t get an education, she couldn’t get a well-paying job because she was undocumented. Now her American dream till this day is for her family to succeed and be something in life, now that she couldn’t.