New Beginnings
Timeline of Lambrini's Move to America
November 1986
My mother and father met at a friends high school dance in November. 2 months later, they started dating.
January 1987
My dad (George Tsitsas) decided he wanted to move to America to be with his brother, who moved there 3 years prior.
February 1990
My dad called my mother everyday for 2 years, and after much convincing, at 20 years old, she was on her way to the US.
Arrival
Lambrini arrived in the US on February 14 of 1990. Their first apartment was in Cambrdige. Her first American dinner was IHOP, and she was excited to try real American food for the first time and most importantly, the pancakes she had seen in the movies. She began to make friends with the other Greeks in the area, and built a little community within themselves. On the first drive she ever went on, she fell in love with the structure of the Mass Avenue bridge, she has never seen such a style of structure. She loved living in the city, since it reminded her of the big city she lived in back home.
"I did not really love the pancakes, it was weird that there was butter, it was my first I guess you could say culture shock. We would use a tiny but of butter for a whole piece of meat and here there were spoonfuls on sweet chunks of sugar and flour"
First Jobs
Upon arrival, my mother hopped right into working at pizza restaurants. She then moved on to be a receptionist at a hair salon. Soon enough, she was able to save money to attend cosmetology school. She had wanted to attend Law School, but it was too expensive for her. In the morning she would work at a hairsalon and at night she would attend hairdresser school. She started off as a hairdresser and even became a teacher at the cosmetology school, Elizabeth Grady.
Lambrini in cosmetology school in 1994