Assignment 3 - Tahsen Hossain - Oh! The Places I've Already Been.

Bangladesh

I wasn't born in this country so technically my first trip abroad was coming to the United States. Since we've moved here I've gone back to Bangladesh several times to visit my grandparents and cousins. Often my visits there remind me just how fluid the world is. Every time I visit it feels like an entirely different country. Sure somethings don't change: the air is still laced in dust and smog, the traffic laws remain nonexistent, and there are still a lot of rip-off goods in the markets due to subpar copyright laws. However, with every visit, you can tell see ripples of other cultures permeate the relatively small pond of Bangladesh. People wear ripped jeans to mimic their counterparts in America and Europe, anime has become popular among many of the teens, and the Bengali film industry is slowly changing to include many of the filmmaking tropes of American films as well as Bollywood movies creating some interesting (but really weird) results.

The United States

My family's first home in the U.S was in Texas in a small apartment shared with my older cousin and his parents. I was 4 years old when we moved and, to be honest, I don't remember much of living there. Of the memories that I have managed to keep, most of them are happy.

After 4 years in Texas, we moved to Florida so that my parents could pursue a college education. All I really remember of Florida was that my 2nd-grade teacher was really mean and that the beach is the most peaceful place in the world if you can manage to be there alone.

Then we moved to Ohio which was less than ideal. I don't have anything against the city and my time there wasn't actually that bad. However, one small group of people managed to ruin it for me. There's nothing worse in the world, nothing so terrible or calamitous, as a third-grade child. Actually, nevermind there is: multiple third-grade children intent on bullying your equally annoying third-grade self. It wasn't honestly that bad but its the most prominent memory I have of being in Ohio.

Finally, we arrived in Lexington by my fifth-grade year and everything came screeching to a halt. both my parents became fully employed, we bought a house, and now I'm here. 

The fact that we moved so much meant I never really got used to one specific places "customs". I never really got a southern accent or developed the kind of biases you form when you've lived in one single place for a while. For instance, I stayed at the University of West Virginia's campus for a camp over the summer and when I was off-campus and a beggar approached us. I gave her my change because that's what I had always been taught to do and one of my new friends who lived in West Virginia told me off, claiming that I may have been fueling someone's opioid addiction. West Virginia is the state worst hit by the opioid epidemic. Regardless of who was right or wrong, I didn't make that assumption but if I had prolonged experiences in West Virginia, perhaps I would have by some point. Had I stayed any of the places I've been, that version of me wouldn't be at all recognisable to me now.