Almost a U.S. Citizen -- But Bumps in the Road to Become a Nurse

Luiza -- Severing Ties with Romania Forever

This is part of an ongoing series of the life of Detroit resident Luiza Grigorescu and other legal aliens in the USA.

She is not a US citizen -- yet. But the day when she is entitled to apply is coming closer: July 9, 2009. That is five years sharp after Luiza came to the United States for good as she writes in an e-mail interview. She says she already has an application, the questions [for the naturalization test], and has started studying. "Hopefully I will pass the test in July."

In her opinion citizenship is important for everyone who wants to have legitimacy in a foreign country that is also her/his adoptive one. "A [green] card that has an expiration date does not give me the feeling that I belong to USA forever." She says for her it is also important to vote and she thinks she might gain other right, which she doesn't know yet.

Luiza is still working on her dream to become registered nurse. Unfortunately, she says, she didn't pass the Nurse Entrance Test twice. "I said [in our last interview] that if I do not pass the entrance test I will become a truck driver, but I did not mean it, or let say I have changed my mind." Luiza says she is determined to finish what she thought is a "huge" endeavor.

"After I learned the second failure, I gave myself 30 days down-time to psychologically recover my non-success, and to be able to get up and start in another way almost from scratch."