Although Aleysha and her family all had their visas, they had to use the foreigner side through customs, and those lines are generally very long. She said that because the line was so long, a group of the people going through customs were allowed to use the American side. When Aleysha came to America, she was only 10 years old and could not speak English. As they were waiting for fingerprinting, she recalls the customs agent saying her name, as she was so young she didn’t need fingerprinting. Since Aleysha did not speak English, her mother tried to speak for her, and she recalls the agent very rudely saying “shut up” to her.

After the airport, they picked up their rental car, which they rented before they flew to America. After they picked up the rental, they drove to Aleysha’s aunts house, which is in Castleton, NY near Albany. There they had a small party; there was a sign out front saying “Welcome to America”, and the aunt bought cake and ice cream. Aleysha also said that in America, if you have cake you have to have ice cream, which is something they do not do in The Netherlands. After that, they went to bed because of the time differences.