Adriana Diaz
Adriana Diaz was born and raised from a completely different culture then I was. She was raised in Puerto Rico and I was raised in Texas. Her first language is Spanish and mine is English. She is 18 and I am 17 . Even though we are different I have found that we have more similarities.
Adriana Diaz is originally from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Similarly to me, she lived in one place all her life. And like me, she had to travel by plane to get to Penn State. She applied to half public schools and half private schools. Her dad is Columbian and her mom is Puerto Rican. Her mom went to a private university, Emory University. Her Dad went to a public university, Georgia Tech. Both her parents wanted her to go to her their own respective schools, either public or private. She choose Penn State because it was a “happy medium” between her parents. And her uncle went to Penn State. But overall she just wanted to expand her horizons, take on new challenges, and meet different people. Plus in comparison to Puerto Rico, education is a lot better. This is similar to me although I don’t have any relatives that attend Penn State I wanted to go outside my comfort zone as well. Living far from home was something I always wanted to do like Adriana.
Like me, she came into Penn State still deciding on her major. But she is planning on majoring in Community, Environment, and Development. It is finding sustainable alternatives for living. She wants to have a major that helps people because that goes along with her life motto: “Always strive to be bigger than yourself” Plus she wants to focus in Latin America and she states that “there is definitely a lot of problems with infrastructure and development there.”
When asked how she adjusted to American culture she said she got accustomed to it. Especially since her dad and her stepmom lives in Ashburn, Virginia. She visited her dad and her other relatives at least 3 to 4 times a year since she was 6. So she is well adjusted to more American culture.
But although she is used to the culture she still misses Puerto Rico’s customs. Such as the Noche De San Juan. It is a tradition where everyone on the island goes to the beach and they jump seven times forward and seven times back. It is a cultural and historical for Puerto Ricans.
She also misses getting together with all her family. Every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday her relatives get together there is different designated cities. This is easy they all live in the same area. Unlike the United States where everyone lives so far from each other. Adriana compares Puerto Rico with the U.S. “We are much more close knit than the United States. From what I’ve seen here it is normal to live really far away from your family. In Puerto Rico since it is such a small island you live close to all your relatives. You are close to your uncles and cousins. While in the States it is different because you are only close to your immediate families.” I think this comparison is accurate because I visit the Philippines, where my parents are from, very often. And in other countries family is definitely thicker than water. Like Adriana said family is more close knit and everyone is able to get together easily every week. This is especially important with a big families. While in the United States it there is much more traveling involved and just with the immediate family.
Since she got here she says she hasn’t really been treated differently because of her ethnicity. “I never felt inferior because I was Puerto Rican. But people are definitely uninformed about Puerto Rico. Which really sucks because Puerto Rico is a part of the United States.” But she admits that she deals with ignorant questions such as “Are you an international student,” Do you have a Puerto Rican passport,” “Is Spanish your first language,” and “did you take a plane here?” Adriana states that “people might see it as racist but I see it as ignorant.” Adriana also points out that she’s “lucky that she doesn’t have a noticeable accent like Sofia Vergara. So people don’t spot her out for being Hispanic out easily. But there is a lot of things that I pronounce differently that people call me out on.”
Personally I dealt with stereotypes about my ethnicity like Adriana. Especially growing up in Texas where the majority of my friends are white. I also had to deal with ignorance such as people automatically assume I am Chinese. This is probably due to the fact like Adriana stated “people are uninformed” that there are other types of Asians. Although we have stuff in common we are also different like I don’t have an accent because I don’t speak another language and I am not from a different country.But my parents, my dad specifically did the same thing when he went to college. From the stories I heard his experiences are similar to Adriana’s. It takes a lot of courage to get out of your own comfort zone and go to another country. Especially since Adriana highlighted how close she was to her family members and how different it is here in America.
Although we have different experiences and cultures it is important to recognize our similarities as well. I find that the most interesting people do not have the same environment, experiences or background as me. I want to highlight the significance of making friends with all types of people because it is enlightening to see a different perspective.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.