Lulu McManigal is a registered nurse currently living in Seattle. She immigrated to Seattle from Shanghai, China in 1996. McManigal was 25 years old. She immigrated to live with her now husband, Steven, a native of the Pacific Northwest. The two had become connected as pen pals and had exchanged letters for two and a half years.
McManigal says that some of the hardest things she has had to deal with include learning American culture, especially when she felt that she wasn’t accepted by locals and experienced discrimination for being an immigrant. In the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, McManigal lost her Chinese citizenship and feels that she is no longer a part of any culture.
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This story was produced in partnership with the First Days Project.
