vivi torontali

  • I need a job…

    Not caught up? Read Episodes 1-5 here. Now that we’re fully moved in and things haven’t been moving as quickly as they used to these past couple of weeks, I’m finding myself struggling to find material to write about. I didn’t expect our lives to develop this fast here– I figured I’d have at least…

  • Immigration, Infiltration, Integration

    Not caught up? Read Episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4. I’ve finally reached the one-month mark of living here. Somehow it feels longer– perhaps it’s because I’m an absolute pro at getting around, or maybe it’s because my routines are fairly well-established. Every day I make bacon and eggs for breakfast, have a cup of…

  • We have chairs!

    Not caught up? Read Episodes 1, 2, and 3. In the weeks leading up to our plane’s departure, my family’s stress levels were at an all-time high. Every day, we’d work toward a deadline, making sure our documents came in exactly on time and not a minute late, and selling all of our items by…

  • Good problems to have

    Not caught up? Read “Leaving a life behind” and “Moving in (finally)” After almost two weeks in the new apartment, it’s starting to look like a home. In the beginning, we were bored in the empty space with nothing to assemble or put away, and overnight it became absolute chaos. We would sit on the…

  • Moving in (finally)

    Not caught up? Read Leaving a life behind I never know what to say when someone asks me where I’m from. I’m Hungarian, but I don’t feel fully European. Being born and raised in the Boston area means that there are some parts of me that scream “yankee.” I have six tattoos, I call a…

  • Leaving a life behind

    Over the past six months, my family has worked tirelessly to pack 25 years of life in America into nine checked bags and 43 moving boxes. Throughout the years, my parents built a tight-knit family and a home in the outskirts of Boston. My personal history starts before I was born, when my parents decided…