Mohammad Nemati was born and raised in Shiraz, Iran. When he turned 18, he came to America to get his Bachelor's degree.
The first thing I noticed about America, when I stepped out of JFK airport, was the highways. They were so big and had so many lanes. That was my first impression.
I had come to America to pursue my education. I studied English for six months before I left to become familiar with the accent and the way that Americans talk. Then I passed the test and got accepted to come to Philadelphia to study for my Bachelor's degree at Beaver College, which is now Arcadia. I left in February 1977. It was easy to get the Visa, but being away and being myself was hard. It was hard to be away from my family. I would do it again, but it was hard.
One thing about America is the hamburgers. We had them in Iran, but American hamburgers were very famous. French fries, hamburgers, roast beef sandwich they were my favorite. Better and greasier than Iranian hamburgers. I still missed my Iranian food.
Sometimes I would say to myself, I'm not welcome here. In the 80's when I would say I was from Iran, people would ask me if it was next to Mexico. At the time, there was discrimination but America changed a lot. It became more welcoming, more mixed, more diverse. Americans knowledge about immigrants has improved. I don't think much has changed between black and white people, that's still there. But toward foreigners, Americans have changed a lot. There is more understanding what's going on around the world. I think this is because of people like me who have come here and forced Americans to adapt.
In college, I had a community of Iranian friends. When I came over hear, I knew one or two friends, and we made some new Iranian friends at college. Actually, my teachers were telling me to not get involved so much with your Iranian friends. They said to get involved even more with Korean or different cultures, because they speak English. If I was with my Iranian friends, we would speak Farsi. My teachers were saying that's no good, don't do that. They said to mix more, go to talk Americans. I didn't like this, because in a way he was right, he was absolutely right, but it was challenging. I knew I wanted to be with my Iranian friends because it was fun but we were not supposed to.
I didn't come to America to achieve the American dream, that was never my intention. I was always planning on going back. My dream was to finish my studies and go back, not to stay here. Actually, none of my Iranian friends wanted to stay here. We came here to get education and go back, it was really not like the American dream that they talk about with opportunity and all that. My goal was to go back to Iran and become an engineer. I never knew I was going to be a florist.
When I came here I didn't have that American dream. I stayed because the country went to a revolution. The country changed. The country went to war, a big war, for eight years. We didn't know if it was going to be one year, two years, twenty years, we didn't know. So then slowly we found ourselves trapped. I felt trapped that I wanted to go, but if I went I would get killed. I was young, I was at the time that I could be a soldier and go one the frontline. Of course, we were sick and worried about our families and friends. We went through hell.
I had come to America to pursue my education. I studied English for six months before I left to become familiar with the accent and the way that Americans talk. Then I passed the test and got accepted to come to Philadelphia to study for my Bachelor's degree at Beaver College, which is now Arcadia. I left in February 1977. It was easy to get the Visa, but being away and being myself was hard. It was hard to be away from my family. I would do it again, but it was hard.
One thing about America is the hamburgers. We had them in Iran, but American hamburgers were very famous. French fries, hamburgers, roast beef sandwich they were my favorite. Better and greasier than Iranian hamburgers. I still missed my Iranian food.
Sometimes I would say to myself, I'm not welcome here. In the 80's when I would say I was from Iran, people would ask me if it was next to Mexico. At the time, there was discrimination but America changed a lot. It became more welcoming, more mixed, more diverse. Americans knowledge about immigrants has improved. I don't think much has changed between black and white people, that's still there. But toward foreigners, Americans have changed a lot. There is more understanding what's going on around the world. I think this is because of people like me who have come here and forced Americans to adapt.
In college, I had a community of Iranian friends. When I came over hear, I knew one or two friends, and we made some new Iranian friends at college. Actually, my teachers were telling me to not get involved so much with your Iranian friends. They said to get involved even more with Korean or different cultures, because they speak English. If I was with my Iranian friends, we would speak Farsi. My teachers were saying that's no good, don't do that. They said to mix more, go to talk Americans. I didn't like this, because in a way he was right, he was absolutely right, but it was challenging. I knew I wanted to be with my Iranian friends because it was fun but we were not supposed to.
I didn't come to America to achieve the American dream, that was never my intention. I was always planning on going back. My dream was to finish my studies and go back, not to stay here. Actually, none of my Iranian friends wanted to stay here. We came here to get education and go back, it was really not like the American dream that they talk about with opportunity and all that. My goal was to go back to Iran and become an engineer. I never knew I was going to be a florist.
When I came here I didn't have that American dream. I stayed because the country went to a revolution. The country changed. The country went to war, a big war, for eight years. We didn't know if it was going to be one year, two years, twenty years, we didn't know. So then slowly we found ourselves trapped. I felt trapped that I wanted to go, but if I went I would get killed. I was young, I was at the time that I could be a soldier and go one the frontline. Of course, we were sick and worried about our families and friends. We went through hell.
So that's why my friends and I studied more. We tried to keep up with our Visa and stay here. Then, staying here over the years, we blended with American people and started to build a life and got this American dream. We thought, so let's do something now. America is a capitalist country, you can work on your own, be your own boss, open a business, etc.
I want to pass on Iranian culture to my kids. No hard feelings but I like my culture, I don't like American culture. If I could make my kids 100% Iranian culture, I would. If I could make them even 80% or 70% I would. American culture is just different. There is too much freedom, I don't like that. Talking back to parents I think is an American thing, there is not enough respect. For example, I don't see why 17, 18 year olds should have boyfriends or girlfriends. They're here to do your study and boyfriend is another part of life. In college, it's fine. In college, it's different because you know more.
Today I want for my kids just what my parents wanted for me. To get their education and become, anything. Of course I would like them to be come a doctor, but I am not pushing them to this. I would like them to study. To not get to involved in their retail things. Just education. Education, education, that's the best.
And by the way, it's just a coincidence that I married another immigrant.
Today I want for my kids just what my parents wanted for me. To get their education and become, anything. Of course I would like them to be come a doctor, but I am not pushing them to this. I would like them to study. To not get to involved in their retail things. Just education. Education, education, that's the best.
And by the way, it's just a coincidence that I married another immigrant.