"They picked up English real fast and then they were happy," she says.
But Lopes, who still struggles with English, needs a community where people understand her language and her history.
That is why the Portuguese neighborhood down Cambridge Street is so valuable to Lopes and other first-generation immigrants like her, she says.
"All the stores I need are here," Lopes says, gesturing out the window. "I can buy my Portuguese food, sausage, butter, flour to make cakes and the fish comes imported."
Most importantly, the shop-owners understand her.
"I like my language," Lopes says. "It's my culture."
But outside this small enclave, Lopes says she is at a loss.
The Cambridge City Hospital now has a Portuguese interpreter, but Lopes says that language remains the most significant problem facing first-generation Portuguese immigrants.
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