Okay, so the title might be a little misleading. Yes, I am from the Caribbean, but we’re technically a U.S territory--- which basically means we receive the "benefits" of being a U.S citizen without the right to vote for its president. While there are copious experiences surrounding my heritage, I’m just going to share one of the most prominent aspects of my freshman college career.

Encountering and correcting the insurmountable amounts of ignorance I received went from hilarious to tiresome very quickly. I always thought the stories people told me about the some of the questions they were asked or the comments made about them were extremely exaggerated until I experienced it for myself.

People see the word ignorance and may immediately interpret that as a negative connotation, but it doesn’t always have to be. Ignorance is just the state of "not knowing," which means there is always room to learn from comments that might be offensive or just plain annoying to Caribbean people.

“Do you guys have, like, big buildings?”

I’ve never understood this question. I’m not even being cynical; I genuinely don’t understand the question or even how this type of curiosity grows. Why is the size of our buildings so intriguing? That question always leaves me feeling very confused, but here's an answer just for the sake of answering: I don’t know. I haven’t been to all, or even half, or a quarter of all the islands in the Caribbean. My guess is that some have bigger buildings than others, most are probably office buildings, apartment complexes or hotels. What is your definition of a big building anyway?

“You must go to be beach every day.” or “I would love to live in (insert island here), it must be so relaxing all the time.”

Yes, our beaches are great, and we can actually see below us when we’re in the water (side note: If you can’t see your feet in the water, that is not a beach.) and of course we like going to the beach (not all of us, the sun is brutal), but that doesn’t mean that it’s all we do. We go to work, school, church, the movies, volunteer groups, I can go on and on. My point is, there is so much we do that doesn’t surround the beach. People have asked me if I just have classes on the beach and to that, I answer: actually, yeah, sometimes I do, but only for environmental studies classes where it would make the most sense. On a different side of the same coin--- no I don’t want to go to the beach with you. My expectations of what a ‘normal’ beach are already so high that I’ll probably think your beach is disgusting. Sorry, just being honest here.

Also, I know ‘island time’ was coined to represent a lax way of living, but just because I am from an island doesn’t mean I can slack whenever I choose. This summer alone I had three jobs, not including some of the places I volunteered at. As a people, we are hard workers so don’t try to use that “island's time” approach with me.

“How’s it like being in America?”

Reference the first paragraph.

My situation is a little different because unlike most Caribbean nations, as a citizen of a United States territory, I am an American. Now, I’m not saying this to in any way suggest that being an American is better than being an Antiguan, Bajan, Nevisian, Jamaican, or any other Caribbean islander, I just want to get my point across.

Just so it is ingrained in everyone’s mind, I’m going say this one last time. Warning: I’m going to scream this one, so brace yourselves. CITIZENS OF THE UNITES STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS ARE, INDEED, AMERICAN CITIZENS. Good, I’m glad we got all that cleared up.

I understand many people ask these questions out of pure curiosity and genuine intrigue, and I admire that. I would never deliberately try to stop someone from learning more about different cultures and experiences, but for us who have been hammered over the heads with the same questions day in and day out, it gets tiring.

I know I don’t speak for the entire Caribbean population, but I think many of us would prefer that you ask more questions about our culture, rather than questions that surround the stereotypes you've been fed. It may be difficult because in learning more about an entire culture--- where would you even begin? The easiest approach would be to start off with a broad question, like, “so, tell me what it’s like in __?” and move on from there. That’s one way to get the most beneficial information from that person, and chances are you’ll end up sharing information about your hometown as well.

There is nothing wrong with being inquisitive, just be mindful of the way you approach it.

Oh and one more thing: I DO NOT LIVE IN OR NEAR JAMAICA.