"What are you?" This was one of the first questions I
received my freshman year of college. I simply answered "a freshman"
and in return I received stares filled with confusion and a few chuckles. What
they meant to ask me was what my ethnicity is.
Being a college student that identifies as multiple ethnic backgrounds can be a struggle. I have gotten stared at, felt uncomfortable during certain club meetings, and sometimes get tired of having to answer questions about the topic. It can be hard living on a campus where people have difficulty identifying what you are, and can also make you feel like you don't quite fit in. Why does your ethnicity mean so much to others?
College is a fresh start. You can choose to be whoever you want to be and leave the awkward high school version of yourself behind. When I got to college I was excited to make new friends, join clubs, and have the full college experience. I remember as a freshman that it was difficult to recall people's names because you meet so many people at a time. So naturally people came up with "identifiers" for others to understand who they were talking about, and most of these were based on physical attributes. People identified others based on height, tattoos, wardrobe, facial features, and mainly ethnicity. Depending on who was identifying me, I was labeled as African American, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, and once I even was called Brazilian. Although this never bothered me I remember others getting into arguments trying to properly identify me. This was odd because if I wasn't bothered, why were other people?
I continued my college experience by going to the club and activities fair on campus. I signed up for multiple clubs and decided to give them a try. I went to a club that was primarily for African American students, and got some stares as soon as I walked in. I thought I was in the wrong place, and apparently, they did too. I also went to a meeting for Asian/Pacific Islander students but didn’t quite fit in there either. Many of them could relate to one another based on what their households are like, but my household had multiple traditions that didn't align with just one ethnicity. I began to get frustrated and wonder why I didn’t fit in. Why did I have to be different? I was tired of the stares and the questions, and I didn’t feel normal.
.
Trying to salvage my vision of a classic college experience I decided to just go to class and make the best of my situation. I began to talk to people through just sitting in class, standing on the bus, and even in my discussion groups. I became so busy and I wasn’t even part of any clubs. (Now, I don’t want to discourage people from joining clubs that they find interesting. Just because it didn’t work out for me, doesn’t mean that the same will happen to you.) I realized that it didn’t matter what groups I was part of. I didn’t have to obsess over how other people viewed me. What truly matters is how I define myself and how I project that image to others. I am half African American, part Filipino, a little French, a splash of Irish, and mixed in with a few other things as well. This is part of what makes me unique. Occasionally I will still get asked about my ethnicity, but I am comfortable enough to choose whether or not to answer. I still see people staring and I just smile back at them. I am more than just my ethnicity, and I am proud to show people who I am.
My entire life I have constantly been asked about my ethnicity. I never understood why it was so important for people to know. But I've learned that sometimes people feel the need to categorize others in order to understand where they fit in, and that's okay. It shouldn't matter what you are as long as you know who you are and don't let others' opinions and judgments cloud your path. So what is it like being multi-ethnic on a college campus? It is awesome, and I am proud of who I am. It doesn't matter what your ethnicity is, as long as you are confident in yourself you will have an amazing college experience.
