Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
As an Asian Latin American, I have the privilege to say that I was exposed to two cultures. In the same place and at the same time. I didn't even have to live in two different countries. In fact, it takes me only thirty minutes to change from one world to another.
My parents met in the 90s soon after they emigrated from small and poor towns in China. Then, they got married and bought the restaurant that would be our home and family business for the next fourteen years. Because both of them had demanding jobs, with long hours that went from early in the morning to midnight, they needed someone to look after my brother and me. Therefore, they hired a Venezuelan woman who would soon become my nanny. She taught me everything I know about her culture, while my mom did the same with her own culture, offering me with two different life perspective from which I took many traits to shape my character.
My cultures taught me to be comfortable with being different. Despite growing up so closely to both cultures, I never felt that I was fully part of any of them. Among Venezuelans my looks always set me apart, it didn't matter that I spoke Spanish fluently or that I was a citizen, for everyone else I wasn't just a simple girl, I was the Chinese girl. On the other hand, I was the only Chinese that barely knew how to speak the language due to the lack of time from my parents to teach me. I was the only one who had been in China just once in her life, making me the phenomenon on the family reunions or Chinese parties. Eventually I realized that it was fine to not fit in and instead started to embrace what both worlds could offer me.
My cultures taught me to be respectful. Because of my peculiar background, I got to live diverse aspects of the Chinese and Latino culture, one of them being religion. At home, my mom would make the whole family pray to the gods on Chinese New Year. While with my nanny who is catholic, I would go to mass on Sunday and try my best to imitate other people. I became aware of the many differences in customs and developed the open-mind that characterizes me nowadays.
My cultures allowed me to be an independent mind. Being a person who practically grew up between two families, there was never a mandatory rule of what I should believe or how I should act. I was always reminded of the importance of my freedom and was allowed to express my beliefs aloud, making it possible for me to be a feminist and to support non-discrimination movements.
Throughout all my childhood, I would travel thirty minutes by car every night from our restaurant to my nanny´s house. The switch between families, traditions and lifestyle made me wonder countless of times who I really was. However, I never felt as if I was losing something every time I left one of my two houses. Instead, I was constantly involved in a cluster of small adventures - at home I would listen to my father sing "Guang Hui Sui Yue" as if he were in a concert or go to the Chinese market to buy white rabbit candies. At my nanny´s house we would play bingo at night and eat "arepas" every breakfast.
To this day, I feel proud of being a mix of cultures. It might not make me a better person or a special one. But my cultures taught me the lessons that defined me, with their many advantages and disadvantages. I realized that I can choose whoever I want to be and I choose to be Chinese and Venezuelan - not just one, but both of them combined in a complex human being.
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Thank you in advance!
exposure to different neigborhoods
As an Asian Latin American, I have the privilege to say that I was exposed to two cultures. In the same place and at the same time. I didn't even have to live in two different countries. In fact, it takes me only thirty minutes to change from one world to another.
My parents met in the 90s soon after they emigrated from small and poor towns in China. Then, they got married and bought the restaurant that would be our home and family business for the next fourteen years. Because both of them had demanding jobs, with long hours that went from early in the morning to midnight, they needed someone to look after my brother and me. Therefore, they hired a Venezuelan woman who would soon become my nanny. She taught me everything I know about her culture, while my mom did the same with her own culture, offering me with two different life perspective from which I took many traits to shape my character.
My cultures taught me to be comfortable with being different. Despite growing up so closely to both cultures, I never felt that I was fully part of any of them. Among Venezuelans my looks always set me apart, it didn't matter that I spoke Spanish fluently or that I was a citizen, for everyone else I wasn't just a simple girl, I was the Chinese girl. On the other hand, I was the only Chinese that barely knew how to speak the language due to the lack of time from my parents to teach me. I was the only one who had been in China just once in her life, making me the phenomenon on the family reunions or Chinese parties. Eventually I realized that it was fine to not fit in and instead started to embrace what both worlds could offer me.
My cultures taught me to be respectful. Because of my peculiar background, I got to live diverse aspects of the Chinese and Latino culture, one of them being religion. At home, my mom would make the whole family pray to the gods on Chinese New Year. While with my nanny who is catholic, I would go to mass on Sunday and try my best to imitate other people. I became aware of the many differences in customs and developed the open-mind that characterizes me nowadays.
My cultures allowed me to be an independent mind. Being a person who practically grew up between two families, there was never a mandatory rule of what I should believe or how I should act. I was always reminded of the importance of my freedom and was allowed to express my beliefs aloud, making it possible for me to be a feminist and to support non-discrimination movements.
Throughout all my childhood, I would travel thirty minutes by car every night from our restaurant to my nanny´s house. The switch between families, traditions and lifestyle made me wonder countless of times who I really was. However, I never felt as if I was losing something every time I left one of my two houses. Instead, I was constantly involved in a cluster of small adventures - at home I would listen to my father sing "Guang Hui Sui Yue" as if he were in a concert or go to the Chinese market to buy white rabbit candies. At my nanny´s house we would play bingo at night and eat "arepas" every breakfast.
To this day, I feel proud of being a mix of cultures. It might not make me a better person or a special one. But my cultures taught me the lessons that defined me, with their many advantages and disadvantages. I realized that I can choose whoever I want to be and I choose to be Chinese and Venezuelan - not just one, but both of them combined in a complex human being.
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Thank you in advance!
