From Romy/Simone The boat was horrible! I don’t know where to even start! First of all we had to share a bed with three strangers we had never met before, and the FOOD: sloppy, cold, gross, sickening, and disgusting! They would give us a tin plate, a fork, and a spoon and that was it I would much rather be at home eating your cooked food. From Margot/Saoirse : One dazed morning I woke up and propped myself up in my bunk, and I could hear whooping and chatter. I instantly knew. Even though it was freezing, I stood up and ran as fast as I could to the deck in my lace sleeping gown. There she was, just as I suspected. Lady Liberty. Oh, Grams, if you could’ve seen her! There she was, brilliant green with her bright flaming torch. Sabrina came up to deck and soon we were shouting at the top of our lungs in Gaelic. Ma woke too and came for celebration. But we all knew our journey was not over yet. I heard someone get teary-eyed. Lots of people were saying prayers. I heard someone say, “Steerage was so horrible!”   I felt so unequal. I thought America was supposed to be equal.   From Gia/Amisha But I also have some good news. I met a girl who was there for me when Mother died. Her name is Rosalind Greenberg. She is an amazing friend and acts like a older sister to me, even though she is only 1½ years older. When we had to sleep, we slept in steerage. Steerage is basically a sleep-away cabin except it is twelve times the size and there are 50 beds with ½  of the people snoring when you are trying to go to sleep. To pass time in steerage, Rosalind and I swung from bunk to bunk, pretending we were monkeys swinging on trees. It was really fun. We kept on falling off the bunks, but we didn’t care. Rosalind got lots of bruises but nothing serious. When it was time for dinner, we had the most terrible meal ever.We had hot soup with stringy beef and bread on the side. Blah, it was gross! After dinner, we started to swing again. We swung like monkeys until we fell asleep. Rosalind’s bunk is on top of mine, so we swung our way to our bunks and slept. I fell asleep looking out the window, which has water outside of it. The ship rocked back and forth, swaying like Father’s old ship.   From Alden/Emma: Finally we arrived Ellis Island! But before we arrived the first and second class got to get off before us on the tip of Manhattan It was so unfair. They did not even have to go through Ellis Island! We were watching them go. And we were so mad! Emilie was acting kind of crazy. She was trying to run all over the deck but we held her back. I just think she was nervous. We all were.Then we saw the Statue of Liberty it is the most amazing thing. We heard some people say, “It is a statue of Christopher Columbus!” But we knew it was not. From Nate/Son: I will never forget first seeing the Statue of liberty. It’s a big green statue that represents NYC.When I first entered New York City harbor I was so happy to be in New York City after the long boat trip! My favorite part of the boat was when I first saw building in the distance.   From Jade/Aveline: It was so loud and bustling I didn’t hear much. But I caught some bits of crying, praying, and… it was just so loud. In the great hall it smelled both a little salty and fresh and a bit stinky I have to admit from all the steerage passengers but it mostly smelled fine.       From Avery/Gieve I forgot about all my seasickness when I got into the line where they had to check our eyes. Everyone was so hectic, running around, screaming and pick-pocketing. The weather was kind of dreary, it seemed horrible at first. When I got in line I got pushed to the back. When it was my turn the inspector yelled at me, “come closer boy, let me check your eyes.” Then he stuck a metal rod into my eyes. “You’re tired, but not unhealthy. PASS!”I him pull the metal rod out of my eyes. This was all translated by the interpreter. Then I I ran past. That was murder on my eyes. And the test was only the beginning. The next test was almost as bad. We had to walk up stairs. They checked our every move. Seeing if we limped, and checking our posture. They were checking you from all angles, up, down and both sides. It was tricky because you had to walk as normally as you could. If you tripped you would get sent back. The next test was a test of intelligence. I got nervous and hugged my stuffed elephant, Shashi. But really it wasn’t so hard. I did the puzzle they gave me in one minute thirty seconds. They grunted at how quick I could go. I had to do a second puzzle because they thought I peeked at the last person. So I did it again but this time I did it in one minute fifty four seconds. I passed that test and went to the final test. The final test was what they were going to ask me to get into America. I waited in line for a long time. But I wasn’t nervous anymore. I had already passed the hardest tests. They just needed to ask me questions about how much money I had and what job I was going to do. I was caught off guard when the guy called next. I didn’t hear what he said so he called it louder, NEXT! I ran up to him. He was not in a good mood. “What is your name? How much money do you have? What is your job? What do you plan to do here? Why did you come here?. . .” He was firing questions at me. I could not answer. I was too stressed out. “Um, I have seven dollars.” “Hold up. You have to have fifteen dollars to get into America. Sorry but you’re going to have to be detained.” But then I found seven more dollars in my bag. “What I have seven more dollars in my bag.” “I see, maybe we can make an exception. So what job do you plan to do in America.” “I plan to be a cooper. I will work really hard and I will not be rude to my boss. And I will try to do my best work.” “Welcome to America,” he said. I was SO happy to be an American citizen. I hope you are happy with me. I felt like I worked my whole life to get to America. I was so happy that the long journey was over. First the fear of the journey and not seeing my family ever again, then two weeks in miserable steerage, Then the big test and then finally after those hard obstacles, it finally paid off.      From Pender/Crosby: When I got off the boat a man was yelling something and I saw people putting bags down so I did the same.  I had my clothes,my fishing rod and hook. When I went through the door of hope or tears, I saw something unimaginable, it was huge, crowded and loud with so many different languages being spoken. I smelled everything and new smells too. I heard someone say, “It’s like a zoo in here.”    From Zen: “We really don’t know what to do we’re in the harbor thinking where to start. The air wasn’t that good there was smoke coming out of and it really smelled different than home.  I wonder what we’re going to do now, we have no home, no job, no nothing.” From Ero/Ezra: “I hope that I become a world famous artist and lead a good life in…AMERICA!!!”   For many more pictures, check the photo album either by clicking on the link or looking at the slideshow below. ]]>