Sarah Albertha Williams lived in Jamaica for 12 years. Five years ago, she moved to the United States, where she has yet to get used to the differences between the two countries.
Joicy Pena and Tariq Ligon play foosball in the gameroom at UConn.
Before moving to Hartford, Williams lived with year-round warm weather and a large group of friends that she would always play with.
In Connecticut, Williams’ life has changed completely, just like the weather.
Williams, 16, said she would easily get sick because of the changing seasons in New England.
“Mother Nature is so bipolar” here, Williams said, as she joked about the differences between the warm Caribbean island of Jamaica and the cold-one-day, hot-the-next-day weather in the United States and Connecticut.
Williams said that the weather is not the only difference. Speaking in a whisper, she reminisced about her former life.
“In Jamaica, I was more friendly. Here, I stay to myself,” she said. She said she definitely had more friends in Jamaica who she would hang out with. In Hartford, her best friend is Nigeria and she has a boyfriend, Isaiah, who, she said, is a “best friend, too.” She said she doesn’t mind that her circle of friends is smaller in Hartford.
Despite the harsh differences between her Caribbean life and her new life in America, Williams finds some aspects of Hartford easier. For example, she said, in Jamaica the schoolwork was harder and it was harder to understand.
“Everything is much more accessible in America,” said Williams, who is a student at Achievement First Hartford High School.
She plans to go back to Jamaica to visit family.
Joicy Pena is a student at Achievement First, Amistad High School, New Haven.