Interview with Liselotte Hagen
Introduction
People around the world have been uprooting their lives and moving to completely different countries for centuries. The cause of this immigration is the result of many different factors. From wars, famine, and political unrest in home countries, to the appeal of starting a new life in a different country, or the promise of job opportunities. All of these factors have led to the integration of cultures throughout the United States and the world. For this project, I decided to interview my mother, Liselotte Hagen. She is such an important person in my life, and this project gave me the perfect opportunity to learn more about her immigration here from Sweden.
Method
Liselotte Hagen is currently a citizen of both the United States and Sweden, coming here thirty-three years ago when she was only twenty-one. To learn more about her childhood in Sweden and her journey to earning U.S. citizenship an in-person interview was conducted, which consisted of questions regarding her childhood, her migration to America, her integration, and also path to citizenship.
Early Childhood
Liselotte Hagen was born in December of 1970 and grew up in a small town called Bjornlunda, which is about an hour south of Stockholm, Sweden. The town had no traffic lights, only one small grocery store, a gas station, a school, and a church. She grew up skiing with her younger brother and loved being outdoors whether it was playing soccer, basketball, or horseback riding. She spent her summers traveling along the coasts of Europe in a caravan with her family and camping on the beaches of Croatia.
Once Liselotte had finished her schooling she didn’t have a plan she simply knew she needed a job and she wanted to travel the world. However, she found it difficult to get a job anywhere near her hometown in Sweden. It was then that she heard about a job opportunity from one of her mother’s friends. The friend knew of a family who lived in the United States who needed a live-in nanny for their children. Liselotte looking to travel decided to take the job and planned to go and live with the family for about six months. Liselotte had only been to the United States once before, visiting Florida with her mother one summer. Along with this Liselotte did not speak fluent English. Although she had learned English since the third grade she explained that it was more British English, and she was concerned about speaking it in a conversation compared to in a classroom setting. Before leaving for the U.S. she had received one letter from the family with more details about the job and got to see pictures of the children, but she did not meet them before leaving.
Leaving Sweden
Liselotte left in April of 1991 with a six-month visa. She boarded a plane in Stockholm, and nine hours later landed at JFK, just outside of New York City. She had arranged to get picked up by the family from the airport, so they could drive her to their home in Bayville which was located on Long Island. However, once she got to the airport she had to wait for over an hour as the father got stuck in traffic. Liselotte explained this was the scariest part of her travels, as she stood on the curb at the airport waiting for him to come pick her up. She had no way of contacting him, so she simply had to trust this man she had never met, would eventually come to get her.
As soon as she arrived Liselotte was put to work taking care of the three kids who were four, nine, and fourteen with the oldest having special needs. She cooked, cleaned, and walked the kids to school meanwhile the mother worked in a nearby hospital as a doctor and the father who did not work, was never around during the day. She lived with the family, ate meals with them, as well as had access to the “family” car. She was paid around twenty dollars a week, which was not much even for 30 years ago. However, she was able to save some of the money that would have been used for any food she did not have to buy. As time went on Liselotte began to make friends with the other nannies in the area, and learned what there was to do around the area.
By the beginning of July, Liselotte had spent about two months with this family when she heard about another nannying position from one of her friends. Both of the parents worked and were looking for someone to take care of their six-month-old, and two-year-old. She still had some time left on her six-month visa, so she decided to quit her current nanny job to try another nanny position before she returned to Sweden. The family lived in White Plains which is just north of New York City. Liselotte ended up loving this family and felt more at home with them. She explained that the family dynamic was more similar to her family dynamic growing up which made it easy for her to feel comfortable. She ended up staying with his family for around a year until she decided to leave. Liselotte explained how “it was hard leaving those kids because I had been with them for a year.”. She needed a change of pace and wanted to see more of New York. At this point, Liselotte did not extend her six-month visa and was living in the States undocumented. However, she loved it here and did not want to go back to Sweden quite yet.
Becoming a New Yorker
It was around 1992 right after Liselotte had quit her nannying job when one of her friends asked her if she wanted to move into the city. Liselotte frequently went into the city, especially during her second nannying job. She had multiple friends in the city and decided this was the change of pace she had been looking for. 
With saved up money from nannying Liselotte and her friend found a railroad apartment above a bakery. She explained in detail how the apartment was like a straight line with each room connecting to the next, and how the floor was “a little tilted” in spots. But the apartment was cheap and she loved her roommate.
Within a couple of weeks of moving into the city, Liselotte got a hostess job through a friend who worked at a restaurant. They didn’t pay her well, mostly due to her lack of working papers, but most of the restaurant employees were undocumented. After every shift, she got the family meal and the pay was enough to pay her rent which was all she really needed. Liselotte loved city life and the friends she made during her time there. During the summers she would take the train to Jones Beach, and in the springs she would rollerblade in Central Park. She loved the hundreds of different things that you could do at any given moment, and how everyone was different.
Path to Becoming a U.S. Citizen
After living in the city for about three years, Liselotte decided it was time to apply for her green card. At this point, Liselotte had been at her restaurant for almost two years and was looking for a more well-paying job in New York City. However, she was having difficulty finding jobs that would hire her as an undocumented immigrant. She brought this up with some of her friends and someone told her about a green card lottery. Through this program, which is formally known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, 50,000 undocumented immigrants are chosen each year to receive a green card. These immigrants are chosen from countries that have a low immigration rate to the United States. Liselotte ended up applying for the lottery and was chosen to receive a green card.
After a long application process and waiting a couple of months, Liselotte now had her green card. With the card, she was legally allowed to work anywhere in the United States. She made a resume with the help of a recruiter, whom she hired to help her make herself a more marketable employee here in the States. She ended up applying for a couple of secretary jobs in the city and was hired by A.T. Carney, a large consulting firm. Liselotte emphasized how the job opportunities that became available to her increased dramatically after obtaining her green card. She also talked about other benefits that come with permanent residency including health benefits, which is huge especially when it comes to the extremely expensive healthcare prices here in the United States. With a green card, Liselotte also explained you have most of the rights U.S. citizens do the main exception being the right to vote.
In order to apply for citizenship, an immigrant must have permanent residency status in the United States for at least five years. After this, they are allowed to apply for naturalization and can begin the official process of being granted citizenship. Five years after receiving her green card, Liselotte received a letter in the mail explaining that she could now officially apply for citizenship. At this point, Liselotte had moved back out to Long Island but was now living with her husband Michael, and her one-year-old daughter Melanie. She had left her job at A.T. Carney and was now working at Barclays in the internal audit department. Liselotte had officially decided to stay in the U.S. permanently and began the application process for citizenship. By October of 2006, Liselotte took the Pledge of Allegiance and officially became a United States Citizen.
Now
Liselotte now lives out on the eastern portion of Long Island in a small town called Wading River. She lives 10 minutes from the beach and is still extremely active. She lives with me her 19-year-old daughter, her husband Micheal, her 17-year-old son Cooper, and her golden retriever Rosie. She has been a U.S. citizen for almost twenty years and has lived longer in the U.S. than in Sweden. I asked Liselotte if she feels like an American now that she has been here for multiple years. However, she said “I guess I should say I’m more American, but I think I’m still a little bit Swedish.” She has never regretted her decision to stay in the United States indefinitely and continues to love it here. But, she is excited to visit her family in Sweden this December for the holidays.
Conclusion
Immigrants come to the U.S. looking for something new, or even looking for jobs. Others come because they are fleeing war, natural disasters, or have political unrest in their home countries. Some stay for a few years, eventually returning to their home country. However, many immigrants, end up staying and begin to make a life here. When Liselotte arrived in the U.S. she was eager to travel and see the world, only planning to stay for six months. However, she never wanted to go home and loved the life she had created here in the United States. Now over thirty years later she is a U.S. citizen, has a family here, and never regretted staying longer than those six months.
[00:00:00] Melanie: My name is Melanie Hagen and I’m here with Liselotte Hagen, my mom, who immigrated here from Sweden. If you could just state your name and when and where you were born.
[00:00:11] Liselotte: My name is Liselotte Hagen and I was born in Södertälje in Sweden and, uh, when? December 28, 1970.
[00:00:24] Melanie: So to start off, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about your childhood in Sweden.
So where did you grow up?
[00:00:33] Liselotte: I grew up in a small town, um, outside of Stockholm. It’s, uh, called Björnlunda. And we had one little grocery store, and a gas station, a school, and a church. That was it. There was no traffic lights, nothing advanced.
[00:00:57] Melanie: Do you have any siblings?
[00:00:59] Liselotte: Yes, I have one little brother who’s four years younger than me.
[00:01:04] Melanie: What did you do for fun when you were a child?
[00:01:07] Liselotte: We did a lot of outdoor stuff, like I went skiing, went cross country skiing when I was younger, then when I got older I went downhill skiing. Then I did soccer, basketball, horseback riding, walked in the woods. Yes, did things outside more.
[00:01:28] Melanie: How do you think the schooling system in Sweden is different from that here in the United States?
[00:01:33] Liselotte: We start later, uh, in school, and, um, uh, we go nine years. We have kindergarten first, and then we go nine years, and then we gear off towards what kind of profession we want to go into. So we have, like, secondary schools. And some of them are more towards STEM while others are more towards English, not English, Swedish, but more academic that way.
So you go two to three years in that, and then you go to college or university.
[00:02:12] Melanie: What did your typical summers look like for you and your family?
[00:02:16] Liselotte: In Sweden, you have longer vacation time when you work. So my parents took six weeks off every summer. And we travel down in Europe. We used to spend our summers down in Croatia.
We traveled with a caravan. And basically camped by the beach.
[00:02:37] Melanie: That sounds like fun. What about your Christmases? How are they different from how they are now?
[00:02:44] Liselotte: We, in Sweden, the holidays are longer. So we celebrate Christmas Eve. That’s when you get the presents. And then, that’s when Santa comes to visit on Christmas Eve night.
And we have a big smorgasbord. We start eating at lunchtime and we eat till like 6 o’clock at night. It’s all food. And then, on Christmas Day, we have turkey and it’s more like, quiet. And then we have Boxing Day after that. So everything is closed from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. There’s no stores open.
[00:03:25] Melanie: Is Boxing Day right after Christmas?
[00:03:27] Liselotte: Yes, the day after Christmas.
[00:03:29] Melanie: And what do you do on Boxing Day?
[00:03:31] Liselotte: You basically, I think, more clean up, I guess. But, it’s not like we eat anything special or anything like that. But, that’s how it is. But, then we also have a day when we actually take down the tree. And that’s 20 days after Christmas.
That’s when.
[00:03:50] Melanie: 20 days?
[00:03:51] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:03:55] Melanie: So what was your plan after graduating high school? Well, not high school, but your equivalent.
[00:04:00] Liselotte: Uh, to get a job, basically, but I didn’t really have any major plans. I wanted to travel, but that wasn’t my main concern at that point.
[00:04:15] Melanie: Did you have any jobs after high school?
[00:04:17] Liselotte: I worked during high school. I worked in a store, um, kind of like a Walmart equivalent, you know, selling stuff different.I sold TVs and washing machines and things like that.
[00:04:32] Melanie: Yep, yep. So what made you decide to come to the United States?
[00:04:37] Liselotte: Uh, after I finished studying, I, it was hard to get a job. There was not a lot of job opportunities and I wanted to travel and I got an opportunity where a friend of my mom knew someone in America who was looking for someone to look after their kids.So my plan was to go over and see if I liked it or just to travel.
[00:05:09] Melanie: Have you ever been here before that?
[00:05:11] Liselotte: Yes, I actually went to Florida with my mom. We went down to Fort Lauderdale and then we went up to Gainesville in Florida and we drove up there and then drove back and, but that was like, I think, probably two years before I came over here by myself.
[00:05:35] Melanie: How did your parents feel about you leaving?
[00:05:39] Liselotte: I think they were, my mom was apprehensive, but I wasn’t planning on staying. I was gonna, you know, travel for a shorter time, so it wasn’t too, I think they were fine at that point.
[00:05:50] Melanie: How long were you planning on staying?
[00:05:54] Liselotte: I, maybe six months. That was it? Only six months, which turned into much longer.
[00:06:04] Melanie: So how was your English prior to leaving Sweden?
[00:06:08] Liselotte: In Sweden, when I was growing up, we learned English from third grade. But it was more British English. And it’s different because you don’t talk. When you’re learning it in school, it’s not like you speak it fluently. So, I could get by, I understood what people were saying, but I didn’t have the vocabulary.
[00:06:32] Melanie: Did you apply for a visa prior to leaving Sweden and coming here?
[00:06:35] Liselotte: Yes, I had a six month visa.
[00:06:39] Melanie: And then when did you leave exactly?
[00:06:42] Liselotte: I left in 1991, in April.
[00:06:45] Melanie: So, how old were you?
[00:06:50] Liselotte: I was 21.
[00:06:54] Melanie: Okay. So you were planning on staying with the family that you were taking care of their children?
[00:06:59] Liselotte: Yes. So the father of that family was Swedish and the wife, she was American and they had three kids who both spoke American or English.
[00:07:15] Melanie: Were you nervous about going to live with them or did you like kind of know them prior to coming?
[00:07:19] Liselotte: I didn’t know them at all. I got one letter from them prior to going. So I didn’t know what to expect. I had seen pictures, of what they look like, but I hadn’t even had a phone conversation with them.
[00:07:33] Melanie: That’s crazy. Was the trip fully funded by yourself?
[00:07:37] Liselotte: Yes, it was. I paid for it by myself since I had worked since I was in high school. I worked all like summer breaks and winter breaks and so I had money to be able to fund it myself.
[00:07:49] Melanie: How much did they like provide for you since you were staying with them? Did you get meals or?
[00:07:54] Liselotte: Yeah, that was crazy. I, They paid for my food, and I was allowed to use their car, and I stayed for free. But I cooked for them, I cleaned for them, and I helped with the kids. So I did a lot of stuff.
[00:08:12] Melanie: Did they pay you well?
[00:08:13] Liselotte: They gave me, I think it was 20 a week, so no, it wasn’t great yet. It’s not good.
[00:08:21] Melanie: So were you nervous about coming to a completely new place and staying with people you didn’t know?
[00:08:27] Liselotte: Yeah, I didn’t know, you know, living with people that you don’t know and feeling comfortable. It’s, you know, and especially being young. That was probably, you know, a little naive and not knowing what to expect.
But, you know, it was scary. I remember when I got to the airport and they were supposed to pick me up and I knowing now how traffic is on Long Island. They were delayed by over an hour, so I was a little nervous standing there, waiting for them to come and pick me up. That was interesting. But yeah.
[00:09:01] Melanie: Where did you arrive in the United States? Like did you, where did you fly into?
[00:09:05] Liselotte: I flew. I flew into JFK.
[00:09:08] Melanie: Um, and then they picked you up from JFK?
[00:09:10] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:09:10] Melanie: And drove you to their house?
[00:09:11] Liselotte: Yeah. The dad came and picked me up. And he was over an hour late.
[00:09:16] Melanie: Where did they live?
[00:09:17] Liselotte: Um, they lived out in Bayville, out on Long Island.
[00:09:21] Melanie: So when you first went to New York City, what was your first reaction?
[00:09:25] Liselotte: Um, it’s big. And noisy. I think that’s, was my first impression. Very gray. You know?
[00:09:37] Melanie: Um, how was it different from what you expected it to be?
[00:09:40] Liselotte: Um, like I have been to like Stockholm and the European big cities and they’re more history. It’s not so new and I think that’s the big difference and it’s not as noisy and roads are like so straight here and like if you go into New York City, all the straight roads are straight.While if you go to European countries, cities, the roads are more crooked and it’s, you know. Different, that way.
[00:10:11] Melanie: What was your first impression, like, in general when you came here, not just of, like, the city? Did you have one?
[00:10:19] Liselotte: I don’t know. I, I guess everything was so different. So, there was so many things to take in and understand. So, I think I thought it was exciting.
[00:10:32] Melanie: Um, Was the language barrier an issue, like, as soon as you got here?
[00:10:39] Liselotte: It’s funny because I took care of kids and I had one of the, the younger kid was like four or five years old, and he was the one correcting my English. So that was interesting, but that’s how I learned I had a five year old telling me how to say certain things.
[00:10:59] Melanie: How old were the kids?
[00:11:00] Liselotte: They were 4 or 5 was the youngest one, and the middle boy was nine, and the older boy was, I think, fourteen, fifteen.
[00:11:10] Melanie: Okay. So he was, like, pretty old for a nanny.
[00:11:15] Liselotte: Yeah, he didn’t need a nanny, but he had special needs.
[00:11:20] Melanie: Oh, okay. So, what did your first few weeks here look like?
[00:11:27] Liselotte: I came in the spring, so the kids were going to school, so I helped getting the kids ready, even though they lived very close to the school, they could walk, so I walked them to school and, you know, I think there was just, I didn’t go into the city for like probably two weeks, to New York City, so I didn’t see much, I was more around where they lived and got, you know, I didn’t know anyone, but I got to know some other girls like me who were there as nannies and that’s how I made friends and got to know more what to do and what other things were around.
[00:12:09] Melanie: Did the parents work in the city?
[00:12:11] Liselotte: Uh, the husband actually did not work, but the, the wife, she was a doctor, in one of the hospitals and I don’t even remember which hospital it was, but yeah,she worked all the time.
[00:12:26] Melanie: So what was the dad doing while you were at home taking care of the kids?
[00:12:29] Liselotte: He wasn’t around, he was always out and about. He was big into cars and mechanics.
[00:12:40] Melanie: When did you decide to stay for longer than you originally had planned?
[00:12:44] Liselotte: I think I didn’t like this family as much and got one of my friends who was a nanny knew of another family who needed someone so I thought I’d try that before I go back home and I still had time on my visa so during the summer I think it was in July I moved upstate to White Plains and start working for a different family.
And I enjoyed that much more. There were younger kids too. There was a six month old and a two year old.
[00:13:23] Melanie: Okay. How was that transition?
[00:13:27] Liselotte: That was good. I think that was more my, how I had grown up, how that family dynamic worked. There was, I think I felt more at home there.
[00:13:41] Melanie: Was it difficult for you to say, like, oh, you were leaving the other family?
[00:13:45] Liselotte: Yes, that was awkward. Yeah. But, you know, I did it. It was hard to, I was very nervous about that. Yeah. But I did it.
[00:13:58] Melanie: How did you get to White Plains?
[00:14:00] Liselotte: Um, I took a train to get up there.
[00:14:08] Melanie: Okay.
[00:14:08] Liselotte: Long Island Railroad and then Metro North.
[00:14:12] Melanie: And did both those parents work?
[00:14:14] Liselotte: Yes, they did. They both worked for Sprint, so they were sales people.
[00:14:20] Melanie: Oh, okay. And you liked them much better?
[00:14:24] Liselotte: Yes.
[00:14:26] Melanie: So, did you need to extend your visa? Like, after taking the new job, when did you decide to stay for longer after that?
[00:14:35] Liselotte: I just think I ended up staying. I don’t even think there was like a conscious decision. Yeah, it just happened. I stayed and I stayed with them for a year.
[00:14:46] Melanie: Okay
[00:14:46] Liselotte: And then I decided like I wanted to at that point I had more friends I knew people in this city in New York City. I used to go into the city you know a couple of times a month and so I had friends in there and I had one of my friends who wanted to move into the city too. She lived in Brooklyn and so we decided to move into New York City and get an apartment.
So I did that. We moved into this. We got this apartment.
[00:15:24] Melanie: At that point did you quit your nannying job?
[00:15:26] Liselotte: Yes, I did. That was another hard thing, but yes. It was hard leaving those kids because I had been with them for a year.
[00:15:34] Melanie: Did you extend your visa after that?
[00:15:36] Liselotte: No, I did not.
[00:15:41] Melanie: Did you have a network of people here to support you?
[00:15:45] Liselotte: Yeah, I had a lot of friends to support me.
[00:15:49] Melanie: How often did you talk to your mom back home? Or your parents in general?
[00:15:53] Liselotte: Back then, it was more expensive to communicate with the phone. I think I used to talk to my Mom, probably like once a week, but it was not like very long talks. I also talked to my grandma, my maternal grandma a lot, but still it was just once a week.
[00:16:12] Melanie: Yeah, did your mom seem to get aggravated that you weren’t coming home?
[00:16:16] Liselotte: Yeah, she tried to like, oh, I got a job for you. I have this so she definitely tried to pull strings to get me to want to come home but I felt like now I have my new friends, and I have my, so I stayed.
[00:16:35] Melanie: Did you find it hard to fit into the social life here, or like, how did it differ from your life back in Sweden?
[00:16:42] Liselotte: It’s, it’s, Swedish people are more structured, I could say. We like to, like, if you stand on line for the bus, you stand on line, and you don’t try to cut the line. Even, you know. And, you’re not, it’s not so much, if you meet your friends you don’t hug, like, you know, like I felt like they did here more, but yeah, it was a little different that way, but I don’t think it differed too much.
[00:17:15] Melanie: Okay. At what point did you get a job in the city? Like, did you get it as soon as you moved in with your friend?
[00:17:23] Liselotte: I actually, I ran into someone in my building where I, we moved into. And they said someone was looking for, uh, a hostess in a restaurant. And I walked, I went there and interviewed and I actually had a job within a week.
[00:17:41] Melanie: Wow.
[00:17:42] Liselotte: Yep.
[00:17:42] Melanie: That’s pretty good.
[00:17:43] Liselotte: Yeah, that’s good.
[00:17:45] Melanie: So, how were you paying for your apartment prior to that? Was it just saved up money?
[00:17:49] Liselotte: Saved up money. And then, um, I got the job quickly and, you know, even though I didn’t make a ton of money, and apartments are very expensive in New York City, but you make do. And I got, when you work in a restaurant, you got the family meal, so that’s always one meal a day that you get to eat. And then, you know, it worked out.
[00:18:15] Melanie: Did you ever, like, have moments where you were struggling with money when it came to living in the city because of how high priced it is?
[00:18:21] Liselotte: It, I could say, like, if I took a cab, I could sometimes, like, oh, how many macaroni and cheese can I buy for that sum of money I’m spending on this cab ride? But, the subways are good and, you know, you just, you live after your means.
[00:18:41] Melanie: So you said the pay wasn’t great at your restaurant job.
[00:18:44] Liselotte: Right. It was not.
[00:18:46] Melanie: But you still got the meals, so that like helped.
[00:18:49] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:18:49] Melanie: And you didn’t have your working papers at this point.
[00:18:52] Liselotte: No, I did not.
[00:18:55] Melanie: Was there a lot of people working in the restaurant who didn’t have their working papers?
[00:18:58] Liselotte: Yes. A lot. So I wasn’t alone.
[00:19:06] Melanie: How was finding that apartment with your friend in the city? Was it difficult to find?
[00:19:12] Liselotte: Yes. We were trying to find something that was cheap. So we found this place that was a walk up. And it was above a bakery. And it was a railroad apartment. So you walk into the apartment and you come into the kitchen. And right by the kitchen, you have the bathroom. And from the kitche,n you walk into another room that was a bedroom. So you walk from there you walked into the next room, which was the living room, and then you had another bedroom. So that’s why they call it, yeah, it was kind of like a railroad, it was straight, you had to go through it.
But, and looking out the window, you could see into the other apartment, it was not across the alley, so it was not huge. And it was even like the flooring was a little tilted, and you know, it was, it was interesting.
[00:20:10] Melanie: Did you like the person you were staying with?
[00:20:12] Liselotte: Yes.
[00:20:12] Melanie: You didn’t have any problems with them as roommates?
[00:20:15] Liselotte: No, well, you know, different, no, not really. We didn’t, we had fun.
[00:20:20] Melanie: How did you meet her?
[00:20:22] Liselotte: Uh, I met her through the family that I worked for. She actually worked in the same company as them.
[00:20.32] Melanie: Oh, okay.
[00:20:33] Liselotte: That’s how I met her.
[00:20:35] Melanie: And she was from here?
[00:20:37] Liselotte: Yeah. She was from Tennessee.
[00:20:39] Melanie: Okay.
[00:20:40] Liselotte: And she was up here, uh, living with her mom and his, her new husband. And she was living in Brooklyn.
[00:20:55] Melanie: Okay. So I know you said, um, Sorry, I know you said you were driving the car from the first family you were with. So did you have like a driver’s license?
[00:21:06] Liselotte: I had an international driving license that I got before I left Sweden. But I don’t know how long that lasted. I think it may be six months to a year. But when I moved into the city, I wasn’t driving.
[00:21:22] Melanie: Yeah, because you didn’t need a car.
[00:21:25] Liselotte: No. Yeah.
[00:21:26] Melanie: Did you find it hard to get around without a car in the city or no?
[00:21:30] Liselotte: No. I, I loved walking. I loved the subway. It was, everything was so convenient.
[00:21:37] Melanie: Did you feel like you were trapped in the way? Because, did you ever feel the need to get out of the city? Did you find that hard?
[00:21:43] Liselotte: No, I, well, during the summers when it got really hot, I, I, yeah, I missed the beach. But I used to get, take the subway down to Penn Station and get on, uh Long Island Railroad out to Jones Beach. Like, there were buses going from the train station out to Jones Beach. So I got to
[00:22:04] Melanie: You got around.
[00:22:04] Liselotte: Yeah, I did, you know. And we had Central Park. I used to go rollerblading in Central Park. It’s, you know.
[00:22:12] Melanie: Good things to do.
[00:22:13] Liselotte: Yeah, it’s always something to do in New York City.
[00:22:17] Melanie: So, how did your life change over the first few months you were here compared to like, or like over the first few years even?
[00:22:26] Liselotte: Uh, I think I changed as a person. I think that’s, I think it’s the biggest change, that being away from the security of your own family, you have to kind of mature and learn what you want and how, you know, how you handle things. And I think that’s a big change, makes you a stronger person.
[00:22:48] Melanie: Yeah. So, At what point did you decide to stay indefinitely? Or did you never decide that and just ended up, just like kept staying?
[00:22:57] Liselotte: I think it just ended up. I had no, you know, my mom kept calling, Oh, I have this job for you, you can come. And I have this apartment for you. And I was just, no, I gotta do this.
[00:23:10] Melanie: Mm
[00:23:10] Liselotte: And, you know, but, and, yeah.
[00:23:17] Melanie: So, at what point did you try to obtain a green card?
[00:23:21] Liselotte: I don’t know how long it was, but if it was two years in the city, oh, yeah, maybe two years in the city, or maybe it was one, I heard about a lottery for the card through some of my Irish friends. There were people that came from Ireland and I got that information on how to apply for this lottery and I applied and I got it. So that was a big deal, getting that green card. Because then I could, you know, my job opportunities changed after that.
[00:24:04] Melanie: How old were you? Do you remember when you?
[00:24:06] Liselotte: No, I don’t know. Maybe like
[00:24:09] Melanie: Do you know how long you’d been here?
[00:24:11] Liselotte: I think I, I don’t know. Two years. Okay. I think I’ve been here two years. When I got it.
[00:24:19] Melanie: Um, and then you said that this changed the kinds of jobs you got.
[00:24:24] Liselotte: Yeah, then I went out and I actually, I went to a recruiter.
[00:24:28] Melanie: Mm
[00:24:28] Liselotte: And, and I made up my resume, got, they helped me with all of that. Because of me coming from Sweden, I wanted to be more marketable here.
[00:24:39] Melanie: Mm hmm.
[00:24:40] Liselotte: So I started out as, applying for a job as a secretary and I got a job with A.T. Carney, which is a consulting firm where, which I worked for, which was much better.
[00:24:55] Melanie: Yeah.
[00:24:55] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:24:56] Melanie: Did any other benefits come with the green card? Like what was, was the main purpose just to be like?
[00:25:01] Liselotte: Health benefits.
[00:25:02] Melanie: You got healthcare that way?
[00:25:09] Liselotte: The only thing that I couldn’t do with the green card is voting. Like, everything else is the same, like.
[00:25:15] Melanie: Okay.
[00:25:16] Liselotte: It’s I think the biggest change for me was the job.
[00:25:22] Melanie: Yeah.
[00:25:22] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:25:23] Melanie: Did you have any issues prior to getting the green card getting, like, healthcare anywhere?
[00:25:28] Liselotte: I had one incident when I had, um what did you say? I, I had a bad, what do you call that? I had an injury on my foot. And they, I went to the emergency room. But when you told them that I didn’t have healthcare, it was early on. They charged me less money.
[00:25:53] Melanie: They did?
[00:25:54] Liselotte: They did.
[00:25:56] Melanie: That’s interesting. And they helped you?
[00:25:58] Liselotte: Yep.
[00:25:59] Melanie: That’s good.
[00:26:00] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:26:01] Melanie: Because I know I’ve heard stories of people who still get charged the full amount, even though they don’t have healthcare.
[00:26:05] Liselotte: Yeah, no, they do not. But then again, that is long, long ago. This is more than 25 years ago.
[00:26:12] Melanie: Yeah
[00:26:13] Liselotte: So
[00:26:13] Melanie: That’s good though. How long did you have the green card for?
[00:26:17] Liselotte: I had it for five years
[00:26:19] Melanie: Okay, is there a limit to how long you can have it?
[00:26:21] Liselotte: I think it’s five years because after the five years I got documentation that I could apply for citizenship.
[00:26:27] Melanie: Like they like sent you mail or something?
[00:26:29] Liselotte: Yeah
[00:26:30] Melanie: Okay, and at this point were you still living in that same apartment with your friend?
[00:26:34] Liselotte: No, we actually left that apartment after, I think it was two years. And then we moved to a different apartment that was bigger and nicer.
[00:26:48] Melanie: But you still lived with her?
[00:26:49] Liselotte: When I had the green card, yes. And, yeah. But not when I had the citizenship. I had already, when I applied for the citizenship, I was already out on Long Island. Again.
[00:27:04] Melanie: Where were you living on Long Island?
[00:27:06] Liselotte: Then I was married. And, with your dad. And we were living in, uh, Sayville.
[00:27:14] Melanie: Okay. So when, so you had the green card for five years?
[00:27:21] Liselotte: Yep.
[00:27:21] Melanie: Right, and then, did you meet dad when you had the green card?
[00:27:26] Liselotte: Yes, I did. I met him when I was still working at A. T. Carney. I was with A. T. Carney, I think, three? Three years or four years. And after that I went, I had a recruiter calling me asking me if I want a different job.
I went just for experience and I interviewed with a couple of big companies like Goldman Sachs. And I ended up with Barclays and I worked for them for five years. So, I think I was with Barclays when I applied for my citizenship. But I was already with Daddy when I applied for, not when I, I think, yeah, when I applied for Barclays.
I met Daddy through someone I worked with at A.T. Carney. Uh, one of the secretaries were friends with your dad’s best friend, and they kind of set us up on a dinner.
[00:28:32] Melanie: Did like, how you were treated at work, was it, like, different that you had a green card, or did people, like, not know except who hired you?
[00:28:41] Liselotte: I hadn’t, nobody knew that I had a green card. I don’t think it makes a difference if you’re a citizen or if you have a green card.
[00:28:48] Melanie: Mm-hmm.
[00:28:50] Liselotte: That’s
[00:28:50] Melanie: It doesn’t change?
[00:28:51] Liselotte: No, it doesn’t change.
[00:28:53] Melanie: So at what point did you move out to Long Island? You still had your green card you said, but were you towards the end of that five years? Or had you already started applying for your citizenship?
[00:29:03] Liselotte: I think it was a year after I got married that I got the paperwork that I could become a citizen because of my green card. But at that point I probably could have got it through being married too, to American. But I did it on my green card.
[00:29:17] Melanie: So when did you get your citizenship?
[00:29:19] Liselotte: So I got my citizenship, I think you were one year old. Uh, I went, I got the paperwork, and you have to I had to hire, um, even when I got my green card, even though I won the lottery, I had to go through a lawyer to get that all situated and all the paperwork had to be organized and you go in and meet people at the downtown in New York City. And, but even for the citizenship, that was easier because even though you used a lawyer for that too, you submit your paperwork and stuff. And then you had to go in and have an interview, take a test.
I had to study American history. And I still have those flashcards from that test that I took. And then after you pass that test, you are called in for an interview, and they interview because they want to be able to hear your English, to see how you can communicate.
And I remember we all, after I passed that interview, we had to wait a little bit, and then they called all of applicants into this big room and we all had to do the Pledge of Allegiance and then we got the paperwork.
[00:30:39] Melanie: That’s exciting.
[00:30:39] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:30:40] Melanie: How was your English by that point? What did you say you were almost fluent?
[00:30:43] Liselotte: I think I’m the same way I am now.
[00:30:45] Melanie: Okay. Did you ever think about going back prior to getting or even after you getting your citizenship?
[00:30:52] Liselotte: No.
[00:30:53] Melanie: No?
[00:30:53] Liselotte: I never did.
[00:30:55] Melanie: Okay. And then how often did you visit during these years?
[00:30:58] Liselotte: I think when I was younger, I was visiting more. Even when you were younger, we went, I went more often. But, as you get older and, it was easier for my parents to come and visit us than us going over there.
[00:31:20] Melanie: Yeah. How long were you here before you went back for the first time?
[00:31:25] Liselotte: Well, I couldn’t go back until I got my green card. Because if you leave the country, you couldn’t come back in. So, I when I got my green card, that’s when I went back for the first time.
[00:31:35] Melanie: So, how many years have you been here?
[00:31:38] Liselotte: Two years. Two or three years.
[00:31:40] Melanie: Okay. Did you ever go back to school? While you were here? To get more education? Or did you do any, like, programs? Like, schooling, almost?
[00:31:51] Liselotte: I didn’t. No, I didn’t. I know I tried to, but I did some schooling and programs when I worked for Barclays for internal auditing, but that was about it.
[00:32:06] Melanie: Okay, I already answered that one. What did you have to do at your Barclays job?
[00:32:17] Liselotte: At Barclays, I worked in an internal audit department. I was, um, an admin person. Uh, I was the one organizing, proofreading audit reports. I was setting up meetings with the SEC. I was doing reports for the audit committee.
[00:32:41] Melanie: Mm-hmm.
[00:32:41] Liselotte: Things like that.
[00:32:43] Melanie: How long did you work with Barclays?
[00:32:45] Liselotte: Five years.
[00:32:46] Melanie: What made you decide to quit?
[00:32:48] Liselotte: Uh, I had you.
[00:32:50] Melanie: Mm-hmm.
[00:32:51] Liselotte: And you were born in April. I was home with you for a little bit. And then my mom came and watched you for a little bit. Your aunt watched you for a little bit. And it was hard for me getting up early in the morning, taking the train into the city, and then not coming home until late.
So I used to take the, we had to leave the house at 6:30 and I didn’t used to get home until like 6:30 at night. And I felt like I was missing out on your, your life as being a baby and all that good stuff.
[00:33:30] Melanie: How had your network of friends changed from being, getting your green card to getting citizenship to moving out of the city?
[00:33:38] Liselotte: I think it changed more when I, well I got new friends when I worked in a different setting than I did before, so that kind of changed a little bit, and then moving out of New York City and moving out here, it was hard keeping the same friends, especially since I also stopped working. So that was different.
[00:34:06] Melanie: So going back a little bit, where were you when the Twin Towers collapsed?
[00:34:12] Liselotte: I was working for Barclays. I was down at 222 Broadway, which is across the street from the Twin Towers. I remember I was in the hallway going to different departments and the building shook, and that was when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
And at that point, we just thought it was a little Cessna or little plane. And I could, I was looking out the window towards the Twin Towers, looking up, and the Twin Towers were so big. I think I was probably on the ninth floor or something, so I wasn’t that high up. Mm hmm. But the plane hit was way up. So we didn’t know, but one of my coworker, her daughter was in daycare in the World Trade Center.
So she went over there, but she was not in a rush, you know, she just wanted to make sure. And then I remember we had the news on, nobody knew what was going on, but then when the second plane hit. Then we were like, oh, maybe we should leave. Because now they started to realize what was going on.
[00:35:02] Melanie: Mm hmm.
[00:35:04] Liselotte: And we took the stairs down. We didn’t take the elevators. And when we got out, it was chaos. There was people everywhere. People running around with like one shoe. They were missing shoes. And I think the worst part was like people jumping. That was horrible. And ambulance is everywhere and we just started walking towards Canal Street. We just walked and not knowing what was going on because we didn’t have news at that time. And I remember getting up to Canal Street and that’s when the first tower went down. And then walking, hearing the fighter jets. above the city. And then not having the news, but everybody out in the streets in shock and not just hearing bits and pieces of information.
And I think I was probably closer up to midtown when we heard that something got hit in Pentagon. So, and hearing the jets, then you’re like, are we at war?
[00:36:36] Melanie: Yeah.
[00:36:37] Liselotte: You know, so that was hard.
[00:36:39] Melanie: So how did this affect like going back to work and like your life after that?
[00:36:44] Liselotte: Um, it was, you appreciate life more, I think. You know, it’s scary. Our company was really good because we all got help. They wanted us all to talk to a psychiatrist, so I think that was a big step. We worked at a different facility for three weeks, two, three weeks, and then we went back down. And I think that was probably harder. It’s, you’re taking the subway down, you have to get off on the subway a little earlier, but the smell and it was just so depressing to see it.
[00:37:23] Melanie: Yeah. How long were they like cleaning it up for?
[00:37:27] Liselotte: I felt like it was forever because probably up to the next summer, but they, they weren’t digging, at that point, the survivors obviously, but yeah.
[00:37:39] Melanie: Did you feel the New York City atmosphere, like the social atmosphere changed after the attack?
[00:37:45] Liselotte: I think, yes, the first month it changed.
It was more quiet, it wasn’t, you know, so much celebrating, it was very sad in a way because people lost, a lot of people lost people, so, yes.
[00:38:02] Melanie: Yeah. Did you have any like indication that the feeling towards immigrants shifted?
[00:38:09] Liselotte: No.
[00:38:10] Melanie: No? It didn’t affect you?
[00:38:11] Liselotte: No, not at all.
[00:38:16] Melanie: But it did affect your day-to-day life as you were going to work or not as much?
[00:38:19] Liselotte: It affected me how to get there and I, you know, but I don’t think, no it didn’t affect me that way, no.
[00:38:27] Melanie: Are there any parts of U. S. culture that you still do not understand?
[00:38:42] Liselotte: No, well, it’s, one thing, it’s like, there’s cards for everything. And, you have, and I don’t think we had that for me growing up, at all. Like, you, I, you can buy cards for your birthday or something like that, but that was it. Here, you have a card for everything. I don’t even think we had cards for Mother’s Day.
But here, there’s cards for everything. Yeah, it’s like you’re looking for a way to celebrate something. And sometimes, yeah.
[00:39:22] Melanie: Did you guys have Christmas cards like we do have here?
[00:39:24] Liselotte: Yeah, we had, you’re right, we had Christmas cards.
[00:39:27] Melanie: Like the ones with the pictures?
[00:39:28] Liselotte: Yeah, but and I used to make Easter cards or Easter painting, but it was not cards cards.
[00:39:35] Melanie: Not like Hallmark cards.
[00:39:36] Liselotte: No, I remember in our store we had maybe like three birthday cards. It was not
[00:39:40] Melanie: The large selection we had in Walgreens.
[00:39:42] Liselotte: Yeah, but then again, yeah, no, not at all. And that’s another thing, like going into a grocery store, when I was growing up, you had like three cereals to pick from, not like going into these grocery stores and having a boatload to pick from. So that’s a big difference. But even though I know traveling in Europe, we had this, you could find the same thing, the same amount of different brands in Germany in a big store. But we didn’t have that. Yeah.
[00:40:16] Melanie: So do you feel like an American now?
[00:40:20] Liselotte: I think more so than Swedish in a way, but I still like the values, some of the values of being Swedish is still ingrained in me. And so I think that’s
[00:40:35] Melanie: So would you identify yourself as more American or more Swedish?
[00:40:40] Liselotte: I don’t know, because now I’ve been in America longer than I have been in Sweden. So, I guess I should say I’m more American, but I think I’m still a little bit Swedish.
[00:40:53 Melanie: Yeah. Um, have you ever regretted staying?
[00:40:59 Liselotte: No. No. I never regretted it.
[00:41:02 Melanie: Not once? Not like, even a little bit?
[00:41:04] Liselotte: Nope. I like it here. So.
[00:41:08] Melanie: Have you ever got, I will, probably, but have you ever gotten like, homesick and thought about going back or no?
[00:41:16] Liselotte: No.
[00:41:18] Melanie: No?
[00:41:18] Liselotte: Maybe when I first got here and I was, you know, everything was so new and I probably had, you know, felt like, oh maybe I should go back. But. Not really. But I grew up traveling a lot, so I think it’s a little different.
[00:41:38] Melanie: You’re more comfortable with it.
[00:41:40] Liselotte: Yeah.
[00:41:40] Melanie: Grew up doing it.
[00:41:41] Liselotte: Yeah, and I always felt like when I was in Sweden, like, oh, I want to travel.
And I saw most of Europe, and I kept traveling even here. Like, I I’ve been to California, I’ve been to Chicago, I’ve been to New Orleans, I’ve been to Florida, I’ve been to Atlanta, I, Minneapolis, I’ve been several places and I feel like traveling is a good thing.
[00:42:09] Melanie: So, I know you got your green card and your citizenship, did you have like a reason other than legality to get your green card?
[00:42:17] Liselotte: Well, a green card. You, I don’t think you can have it forever. I guess you renew it.
[00:42:22] Melanie: Mm-Hmm.
[00:42:23] Liselotte: I’m not sure. So at first, that was one reasoning, but also I can vote and I felt like, so live here, I wanted to have a say.
[00:42:32] Melanie: Mm-Hmm.
[00:42:32] Liselotte: about politics too, even though I’m not that involved in politics, but at least do you wanna be part of it? If you can’t, you can’t complain if you don’t vote. So yes, that was, I think that was the big thing that I got to vote.
[00:42:47] Melanie: And what other things in citizenship come with it, or is that like the main thing?
[00:42:51] Liselotte: That’s the only thing. You have a green card, you get to do everything else.
[00:42:56] Melanie: Okay. Would you ever move back to Sweden after you retire?
[00:43:04] Liselotte: I would say no. Even though in Sweden’s health care system, like, not health care, but, when you get old, they take care of you when you live in a home and stuff, and I think maybe that is nicer. I don’t think the health care is nicer, but that part. Seeing when your grandfather here got put in a home, I didn’t like how the homes were run here.
[00:43:29] Melanie: Yeah.
[00:43:31] Liselotte: I remember how my grandparents were in the home and it was nice. It was homey. They had plants in the windows.
[00:43:40] Melanie: It was just, it wasn’t so sterile.
[00:43:42] Liselotte: No, it wasn’t sterile. And usually it was people in the community who was working there. So it was very different. Even like, if you look at the schools, going back to that, how that was differ from Sweden. Like I grew up getting meals. And that was all paid for by the state. So we used to go and every day we get fed. And each day of the week was different. We had meat one day, fish one day, soup one day. So it was something in it. From first to sixth grade, we actually, everything was home cooked. Like, the farmers wives were in the kitchen, and we got to go in there and thank them every day after we got the food. So that’s something how you were brought up, that you thank people for what you get.
[00:44:37] Melanie: How often do you travel back now?
[00:44:42] Liselotte: Not often enough. I think it was two years since we went last time, and now we’re going for Christmas again, or after Christmas. So, not often enough.
[00:44:52] Melanie: Do you wish you would go back more?
[00:44:55] Liselotte: I wish it was easier. It’s expensive going on a plane and it’s a long flight. I just wish it was easier than I think I would go more. Like getting to the airport, sitting at the airport, getting on the plane, and then getting off the plane and travel again.
It’s not easy.
[00:45:16] Melanie: So do you ever feel disconnected from your Swedish culture or like your roots?
[00:45:21] Liselotte: I think I brought some of it, like here, like how we do the gingerbread house and I do our Christmas dinner. I think I bring it, brought it with me, teaching you guys about it.
[00:45:37] Melanie: Do you ever wish that you taught us Swedish?
[00:45:41] Liselotte: Part of me, like when we go visit. I feel like you feel like you can’t communicate with everyone, even though they do speak English like your cousins do. But at the same time, no, because you cannot use that language.
[00:45:55] Melanie: No.
[00:45:56] Liselotte: You can, there’s no use for it. If, if it was German or something else that is used in other countries, but Swedish is so particularly like just for Sweden. And now they teach Swedish kids English from first grade.
[00:46:15] Melanie: So from first grade?
[00:46:16] Liselotte: Yeah, first grade. It’s not,
[00:46:19] Melanie: Yeah
[00:46:19] Liselotte: I think the Swedish language probably gonna more or less starting to disappear. I feel like a lot of English words are working itself into our culture.
[00:46:32] Melanie: Yeah, so thank you so much for doing this interview with me and explaining your life story.
[00:46:39] Liselotte: You are welcome.
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