Ellis Island, 1952: En immigrants rejse

There is so much to tell, I do not know where to begin. Maybe I should start at the beginning, which was, my trip to Ellis Island. The trip to Ellis island took 8 weeks. There was a lot of people on boat and some of them were seasick. The food on the trip was very bad, and it smelled as if it was too old. After 5 weeks on the ship I got very ill, but it got better a few days later. I met a boy on the boat. He came from Irelamd, his name was William. William and I talked a little bit together about Ellis island and some other things. Before we came to Ellis island we could see New York. It was very big. There were high buildings everywhere. After the 8 weeks we arrived to Ellis island. It was a chaos on the island, but William and I were still together. Everybody was checked for diseases and a lot of different things. All the children over 2-years-old, had to walk so the doctor could see if they had a limp or something like that. Each doctor had a chalk, so they could write a letter on people’s coats. If the doctor wrote an “F” it meant facial rash, “Sc” meant Scalp infection, “K” meant hernia and the most dreaded letter of all was “X” that meant mental problems, and people marked with an “X” were usually sent back where they came from. Another person came and ask people some questions like: What kind of work do you do? Can you read and write? How much money do you have? Have you ever been in prison. William and I still waiting to be checked. Now you have heard a little bit about my trip to Ellis Island and all my experience…