I must introduce you to three individuals, not random individuals, but siblings: two brothers and a sister. They may seem like people like any other, but they have a secret that is not easy to realize if you don't know them. They belong here in the sense that they were born here, but their heart belongs to another land. They are children of immigrants; the first generation born in America. It's a unique experience that may seem strange or exotic to others, but for these three it's as normal as learning to ride a bike. At home life is normal, not too different from the lives of all their friends. The father still goes to work during the week and the mother stays at home to take care of the three children. They have a house with a maple tree in front and a dog that the girl fights with. It's strange though, having to open presents with my family on Christmas Eve after church and dinner, while my friends wake up early the next morning to have breakfast with all their out-of-town relatives. I understand, but at the same time I don't. I'm not old enough to understand why telemarketers can't pronounce my last name or why we have to fly every couple of years to visit our family. “It's hard to remember the first time I went to Switzerland. The actual experience of flying across the ocean at a young age felt like traveling to a different world. That eleven-hour flight was a really boring part of the exciting journey ahead. I remember once looking out the plane window as we landed and feeling deep comfort and contentment. I felt like I was at home. What awaited me were days of family and friends, hiking and exploring, and delicious food. It was always such a great experience to find myself…in the middle of the paper…based on Americanism. I've lost count of how many times I've told someone that I'm Swiss, or that I speak Swiss German, and they immediately say, "Oh, you're Swedish," or "you're Swedish." America has become a world unto itself since the separation from Great Britain, and this shows how so many Americans see nothing outside of this country unless it is shown through the media. Being the first generation born in this country, my siblings and I have the rare advantage of seeing not only life as it is here, the country we were born in, but also the broader spectrum of life and lifestyles. Growing up we had many experiences common to Americans, but at the same time we had such a different and intimate outlook on life because the experiences we had put us in touch with our Swiss heritage. The heritage we have because we are children of immigrants.