One Dream, One Determination

My cousin is a one of a kind. I chose him for my interview because I really wanted to be able to connect and relate to my cousin through his story. Socratis Koutelidakis has a great history with a unique background. He was born here in Chicago on October 24th, 1982, later moved to Greece, and now recently moved back here. My cousin experienced immigration and is experiencing exploration. Unlike most people’s interviews, my interviewee’s story takes place in the present, in today’s time. He has barely been in America for two months, and he has a story that most people cannot tell today. Here is the story of his life.

My name is Socratis Koutelidakis and I am 30 years old. I was born in Chicago and when I was 3 years old, I moved to Athens, Greece because that is what my parents wanted at the time. I grew up there in a small house with my mother, father, and older brother. I went to college in Greece and graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Forestry and Natural Environment Administration. Shortly after, I met my future fiancé Efthimia. Due to its present economy, I realized that Greece is not a place to securely plan for a career. It is a small country with a big financial crisis. Opportunities to be successful in your career are very limited, therefore it limits your opportunities in successful marriage/family. I had many ideas and goals set in my mind with what I wanted to do with my life. Moving to America I thought was the best option for me to achieve my goals because I believe that it is “the land of opportunity”. It seems like in America there are a wide range of opportunities.
This is the land of opportunity from what we have heard. I want to see if that is true, if there are opportunities existing to fix my life. I want my life to progress in a calmer way. We do not have the power or capability to do that in Greece. Greece does not have the strength to provide us a secure life. It does not give you the chance to make your dreams a reality.
So after many years of living in Greece, I finally made a life-changing decision to move to America. This was a heartbreaking choice for me to make because it is difficult to abandon my mother country that I have lived in basically my entire life. I really love my country because Greece makes up who I am. The most obvious reason I can say for me moving to America is to simply have a better life. Money is essential to surviving in today’s world, but it is not everything. Happiness and health is the most important thing any man should have. It does not matter if you do not have a lot of money or if you are poor. The key to a successful life is a happy life. I want to live in a place where I can feel free, safe, satisfied, and just overall live a comfortable life. By coming to America, I believe it gives me the opportunities to do so. I have dual citizenship in Greece and America because I was born here and I lived in Greece for almost 30 years.
My airplane safely landed at the O’Hare airport on February 20th, 2013 and I was amazed at what I saw. I saw a sign on the expressway saying “Welcome to Chicago”. That made me feel warm and welcomed. I came to Chicago alone in the beginning, but the plan is to bring Efthimia later on, as soon as I am making a satisfying income. I want to have a job so that I will be able to rent an apartment of my own. Soon she will coming to Chicago and we will get married. As of now, I am alone and I have to make it happen for both of us.
Leaving behind my family, fiancé, and friends was difficult for me. At the airport, we were all crying saying our goodbyes, and they wished me good luck for my new life. I knew that they were all going to miss me, but at the same time cared for me. I was pretty sad when I left Greece because when you leave your country for another country, you must be in a situation to not be able to stand the position you are in anymore. Every day I worry that I am far away from my family, but my family acknowledges that I came here for something better. Therefore, if I am happy and satisfied, they will also be too. This is what helps me overcome the disappointment of missing my family.
When I arrived to Chicago, my relatives were there already waiting for me. With open arms, my uncle welcomed me to stay with his wife and kids in his house for as long as I needed. All my relatives have been really nice to me for the time I have been here. They have accepted me into their lives and I really do appreciate that. America is different from Greece and my relatives have been assisting me with everything I need. Coming to America, I had goals set in my mind. My plan was to come to Chicago and start a new life by getting a job, go to school, get a degree, bring my fiancé, marry her, and start a family. So far, I am in the process of finding a sustainable job. At this point in time, I am desperate for a job so I will take the first job I can get.
I want to go to college because I want to receive another bachelor degree so I can give a better direction to my life. I am leaning towards a paramedical occupation such as an x-ray technician or a medical machinery technician. Before I came here, I did have these ideas of work in mind. I also had in mind of getting a MBA degree, which stands for Master Business Administration. Although this gives me choices on which careers I want to go into that will give me a direction in what I want to do in my life, getting this degree is too time consuming and expensive at this point and I do not have the strength to do so. As of now, I recently found a temporary job working in customer service for a website company and I officially start next week.
One thing I would like to go into is the stereotypes of Greeks. Many non-Greeks assume things that are obviously not true. One stereotype is that we are lazy and that we do not work. This statement is false. I have lived in Greece and I know how the people are there. A usual work day is 14 hours in comparison to the typical American 8 hours. So generally, the idea that people call “Greek time” and the opinion they have about the Greeks is something that I cannot say it is a lie, but it is a bad impression that the Greek-Americans have given to the residents of Greece. The Greeks that live in Greece do work a lot and go through hard times, but during their free time they know how to have fun. Even though Greeks know how to live, they still work many hours a day. Do not forget that everything began in Greece including medicine, philosophy, and democracy. We cannot let this be forgotten. For the time being, since times are hard in Greece, people try. By try, I mean they look for jobs, and those who do work, work for many hours to help support their families.
Before I came here, I did not really have an idea of how America would be like. The only thing I knew while in Greece, was that the USA gave you more opportunities. I do not expect that money will just be floating around. I came here to work. Simply here I realize that it is a very large country and since it is organized and unified as a country, when you work well, it will give you more in return. I simply want to be comfortable, meaning psychologically to not have any financial stress. I want to have good health, my family, and to have enough time to spend quality time with my family. From what I have seen so far, America gives you the opportunity to do many things.
To be honest, one thing that has left a big impression on me is that all the people here tell you good morning, they look at you, they smile at you. Well, this is just what I have noticed with the people I have encountered. Their impression on me is overall very good. All this brings me a welcoming feeling. As for now, the impression I got is excellent. In Greece, the people are not this way because everyone has stress and many financial problems. Money is scarce and they all try to survive. It wasn’t always like this. But now it is. People in Greece worry about their family and own problems. They care about the general good, and this is shown when someone is in hurt or in danger. People rush to help, to donate blood. They try. People help out in the church with the poor and food. When somebody has an extra of something, Greeks do give it. This still occurs in Greece. It is simply now that the good mornings and smiles have left Greece. The up-spirit cheerfulness of Greece no longer exists.

My general overview about the people that live in America is that they are very lucky people and especially the youth because they have their entire lives to do things that will make their lives easier. I am not only talking about money, because people need to realize that money is not the number one thing in this world. Yes, money gets you many places in this world, but it cannot buy you happiness. As of now, nothing has changed in my perspective of America since I came here, because I have not yet seen enough to fully know and understand. One thing that I did realize though is that many Americans take what they have for granted. They do not realize that what they have, most people around the world do not have. For example, I know that people in Greece would love to move to America so that they can have opportunities to do something in their lives too. Overall, my experience here so far has been wonderful and I look forward to completing my American Dream here in Chicago.

And with that closing statement, the interview had come to an end. We slowly got up from the kitchen table with an extra boost of happiness inside us. I truly felt the bond getting stronger between me and my cousin. While shaking my hand, my left hand because my right arm is still broken, he firmly gave me a strong grip and told me, “Thank you very much for interviewing me Demetri. It was really a pleasure and honor”. Now with a smile on both of our faces I responded, “The pleasure was all mine Socratis”, and with that I gave him a nice big hug and he took me out for ice cream.