Coming To America

• At the age of 2, I immigrated from Costa Rica, Central America to the United States with my mother and four siblings. My father had immigrated 6 months before us. Our family settled in San Jose, California. We came to the States with the idea of living here 3 years then returning to Costa Rica, I guess that plan didn't work out because it's been 46 years and I'm still here! Hah!
  
  Hi, I'm Milly Eastburn. I'm beginning this blog with the express purpose of examing immigration: past and present in the Bay Area, California. This is an ongoing research for a history class at CSU East Bay in Hayward, CA. The class is entitled History of The San Francisco Bay Area. My professor has challenged me to look at the city of Hayward and its surrounding areas rather than all of the Bay Area. Thus, I would like to exam the condition of the immigrant to this area. What do I mean by that? Well, I'm an immigrant and can relate to the hardships and challenges unique to this group of people. So, my thoughts at this point are to look at these areas and other characteristics common to all immigrants. I plan to review ports of entry, reasons for leaving home countries and the different groups of people that settled this area, such as the Spanish, Portuguese(who as it seems are quite a large group of people here), Japanese, Mexicans(were they immigrants since they were already here?), Blacks and other peoples. At some point, I may focus on a specific ethnic group, part of town or challenge to better present my research.
  
  It's my argument that we are all immigrants. If not personally then someone at some point in our family history immigrated to this great country. Therefore, we can or should be able to relate to one another on an equal plane.