“I would like to live in New York. That is my dream.”

Story #47, Lucas Resende Soruco, Portuguese-Spanish Immigrant 

Interview conducted and story written by Selene Ho

Edited by Margharita Marras

Migrating from Brazil to Boston, Massachusetts was just the first step of the staircase for Lucus Resende Soruco, who is very hopeful for his future. At just 18 years old, Soruco made the leap to America in January of 2022 after his father, who was already living in the States, encouraged Soruco to join him. While the language and frigid weather in Boston was unfamiliar to Soruco, who speaks Portuguese and is used to warm temperatures, he quickly adapted to the American culture and language.  

For four months Soruco attended English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to improve his vocabulary and grammar. However, he did not find English challenging to learn, as “Portugueges is a Latin based language, so there are many words in common” with English, Soruco explained. Soruco also mentioned that people in his homeland “consume a lot of American culture, so it was nothing really new.” 

While Soruco is a mix of ethnicities; mainly Portuguese and Spanish, he did not feel out of place in America either. “I’m kind of white too,” he said, referring to one of the predominant races in the U.S., “but just not American white.” Besides Portuguese and Spanish, Soruco is also German and Indigenous. He mentioned that Brazilian ancestry is diverse, and many people are of mixed ethnicities like him.

Several months after taking ESL classes, Soruco began working at an American breakfast restaurant. But Soruco noted, “I didn’t have my green card, so I was technically working under the table.” It wasn’t until months later that Soruco received his U.S. citizenship and was able to work legally. 

Now at 21 years old, Suroco lives in Roxbury, Massachusetts and works for Tsurutontan Noodle Brassiere as a server. Saving money is the first step for him.  He plans to soon study computer science at Bunker Hill Community College. “I like games. So I would like to work with gaming development, gaming programming–computer science is one of the most important majors that can lead you to a game path career,” Soruco explained. Down the line, his goal is to transfer into a four-year university and obtain an American college degree. 

“I would like to live in New York. That is my dream.” Along with his dreams of living in the “big apple”, Surrocco longs to travel: “I would like to go to Europe. I would like to go to Japan, and some other countries in Asia as well.” With a degree from a U.S. college and a job opportunity, Surrocco believes that he can “go anywhere in the world.”

In the far future, returning to Brazil is a possibility too. Suroco is hopeful that his bilingualism and future college degree can lead him to great employment opportunities in Brazil. “I speak English [and Portuguese], so that's a big advantage to me, and if I get a degree in an American university, that is another big advantage.” 

While Suroco is building a new life in America, he still misses his family and the culture of Brazil at times. “I miss my family, my mom and siblings, and I miss parts of the culture like food and friends, and the weather.” Suroco shared that he loves and misses Brazilian lasagna and cheese bread, a popular Brazilian snack. Unlike the American version of lasagna, the Brazilian version does not use ricotta, which Suroco said, “I don’t like ricotta that much.” 

Nevertheless, Suroco seems to be able to grow and have fun in his work environment. He is able to understand and communicate with some of his Spanish-speaking co-workers, as well as learn bits of Japanese and Russian. 

Suroco holds many dreams for himself, and migrating to America was just the first.