Rose moved to the United States from Jamaica at the age of 14. She has lived in New York City since and has flourished both academically and socially. Here, she comments on
If someone is jealous [of my having moved to the United States] it’s just because they didn’t like me in the first place, in which case they don’t really matter. Um, but yeah one of the things with moving here, I feel like everyone like immediately expects that you have a lot more money and you’re more comfortable, which you are, but they feel like you should be able to provide for them now. And so like my friends would be like, “oh can you bring back a cell phone and an iPod and these shoes,” and, you know especially for my parents since they’re working it’s hard. It’s particularly hard for them when it comes to family and their siblings and stuff like that. Like my mother especially will expect to send money back all the time, like when she’s coming back to bring back like a whole suitcase of stuff for them. And even with me like my friends will call asking for these things, and it’s sometimes really hard. I don’t think they understand that I’m not a king here.”
