Gao poses with his friend at a traveling Chinese lantern festival that came to the Milwaukee area.

Submitted Photo

Gao poses with his friend at a traveling Chinese lantern festival that came to the Milwaukee area.

Gao develops new appreciation for home

“My parents are immigrants. They came to America about 25 years ago. My grandparents live in China. I have visited them several times before, and it is always the same. However, my most recent visit was different. I last went about two years ago.

When I went, I noticed things I hadn’t really paid attention to before. I realized just how small my grandparents’ two bedroom apartment was. I also realized how tiny and smelly the bathroom always was. Netflix and Youtube, and other social media things were blocked, which was really weird to experience. And the entire time we were there, we were told to only drink from water bottles because the water isn’t that clean or safe.

I spent about a month living in and surrounded by those terrible conditions. The most recent time I visited was not like all the other times because this time, I gained insight. I developed a new appreciation for how good I have it living here in a nice house in Mequon, Wisconsin.” (Tyler Gao, sophomore)

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