Immigrant Collage

                       Anna Polan, formerly known as, Ania Piecyzkolan

Anna's grandfather came to the USA in the 20's and had 3 kids here. He then went back to Poland and had more children there. After the war, the citizens of the USA were allowed to come back, so she came back in 1967. Her siblings who were currently residing in the USA sponsored her to come back, which guaranteed a job/school. Her reason for coming to the USA was for economical reasons. Post-war, 5 of them basically lived in one room with no bathroom or showers. Housing was much cheaper here.Her dad was the first to come and three other sisters came later.

Her parents had to work in the factories and “sweatshops” and her goal was to not have to do that. She didn’t want to have to work hard labor like them. Her primary goal was to get an education and not have to worry about money.

Her life wasn’t that much different after she came to the USA
-she lived in a Polish community
-first thing her dad bought was a car
-everything was still based around family
-they traveled a lot more once they got here because they had a car

She describes her biggest challenge as a culture shock. It wasn’t what was expected. She had a vision of “gold on the streets” but it wasn’t clean and it wasn’t as easy as she thought it was gonna be. She basically came with 25 dollars and everything her mother could pack.
“Working hard and saving money was everything.”
-how people dressed and the music was a big change – (the 60’s)
when MLK died
-war
-Her dad went to work with her uncle
-Her mom worked in a kitchen
-January 17, 1967 was the day they moved
“...came on Sunday and went to school on Monday.” She was out of school for 2 months in Poland so her dad said they had enough vacation it was time to go back to school once they got to the US
She was 11 when they came to the US

She met her husband, George, when she was 17. He lived on the street next to them and he came over to look at her house and wound up asking her out. George is now the Vice President of Research and Development for Reliable Automatic Sprinkler Company. Anna works as a nurse for Cancer Centers of the Carolinas. They had four children together.

Eric (26)
-Graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)
-recently married

Mark (24)
-Graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia
-Works for Sunoco as a safety engineer

Julia (22)
-Attends Clemson University; majoring in Conservation Biology

Adam (20) (Sarah's Boyfriend)
-Attends Clemson University; majoring in Financial Management with an emphasis in Real Estate

Likes & Dislikes:
Poland- every town has a castle and there are little places where u can sit everywhere

USA- she doesn’t like the walmart type stores—there is no variety 
-everything is the same everywhere
-people all talk the same, the news is the same...
- no history: everything old gets torn down to build something new
She says that she is more American now than she is Polish, though she still speaks Polish to relatives.