Sam’s early life in America was spent mostly with his parents. Before settling in Needham, the O’Sullivans lived in Newton and Arlington. Since they moved around a couple of times before Sam turned four years old, Sam didn’t meet many Americans, especially his own age. This allowed Sam to establish more British mannerisms and habits. For example, Sam still had a British accent when he started preschool, despite having lived in America for two years. Though the accent is gone, remnants of it are still present and noticeable. For example, Sam pronounces the word “yogurt” like “ya-gurt,” much to the annoyment of his friends, including me. He also used some British slang during our interview. These words included football instead of soccer, flat instead of apartment, and pram instead of stroller.

Now that Sam is in High School, his life is pretty similar to that of a normal American teenager. He’s a captain on the boy’s ultimate frisbee team at Needham High School, and plays frisbee in other places too. When asked about if he wished he had stayed in England, Sam said, “You don’t know what you don’t know. I am happy with my life now so I wouldn’t want to change it but I am sure if I stayed in England I would also be happy.” The only thing Sam wishes were different was that he feels like he doesn’t know his cousins that well. Though he has thirteen cousins, they all live in England, and he is only able to see them about once a year. While this is not an end all be all for Sam, that is the one con to living in the United States.