My first arriving in the US on Monday 5th of September was quite (lets say) odd. After we landed in Houston, I had to go through the immigration office, which was a bad experience. This control last at least 3 hours and I was somehow treated like a criminal for no reason. In fact, I was not even allowed to write a short message to the other members of the program to inform them of my situation. It was a totally new situation I have never experienced before. It felt like, in that room, suddenly all my rights were lost... and I think that feeling was one of the most frightening things I have ever experienced. And knowing that country as the land of the free is irony at its finest.

I was asked many questions and had to explain any little point, that they wanted to know. Sure, I was aware of the different and strict border control in the US, such as the storage of my fingerprints and a photo, but being forced to unlock my smartphone (which is nowadays the most private thing a person can own) and to let an unknown person see all content was distressing and gave me a strong feeling of impuissance. Being under general suspicion for no real reason was not fair and the uneven distribution of power was huge.

One thing that I recognized was that the waiting room of the immigration office was full of people from South East Asia, Middle East and Africa...  I was the "whitest" one. I was never given the opportunity to visit the US before, therefore everything I know about the US is what I learned in school, by media or hearsay. I had no firsthand experience and I formed my opinion based off of everything I heard, good and bad. The media occasionally highlights negative aspects of the US, such as negative attitudes towards minorities, and I must admit this intimidated me a bit, because I myself am part of a minority. After my first (unluckily bad) experience in the USA I was really confirmed in my apprehensions. However, in the end everything went well more or less. Of course I know that this incident is not (only?) the US, therefore I tried to look on the bright side of this trip... from now on, it only can get better :-).

source: commons.wikipedia.org