Being a Cuban American in a white majority university has been somewhat of a culture shock and definitely a change from what I'm used to. Moving from Miami, the biggest melting pot of Hispanic cultures in America, to Tallahassee, a white-majority town, has been challenging in all aspects. I'm used to speaking Spanish in every corner of Miami, eating Cuban food (arroz con lechon if you know what I'm saying), and spending time with my Hispanic friends and family. Now, many of the people that I've met only speak English, have never had any of the Cuban or Hispanic food I've eaten (unless you've been to Gordos, which does not compare whatsoever) or have their own cultures and ways of living that I've never even heard of from my small Hispanic community back at home. Moving away to college has been a way for me to identify who I am as a person and to identify my real self- my culture, my language, my identity- me.
Don't get me wrong. Moving away to college has been one of the best experiences I've ever been given the opportunity to experience. I've met so many amazing people from different cultures and different cities that have taught me so much about what I've been missing living back at home in Miami. However, I do realize what a minority I really am when compared to the rest of America. Living in a white-majority town has definitely taught me how many people might look at me weirdly, or how they might not understand many of the things I do with my culture because they've never seen it before with theirs. I find myself not speaking as much Spanish as I have before in Miami, I find myself not eating the same foods that I could find on the streets of Miami, and I find myself not enjoying the same culture or music as I would back at home. College is the place to really discover who you are as a person, and discover your true identity. College is the place to discover how you fit into the world, and how you can bring your backgrounds into different parts of the world and into different people that you meet. Explore. Discover. That's what it's all about.
I miss my Miami lifestyle most of the time, my Cuban family speaking Spanish to me and their Cuban way of doing daily things. I miss the food, the environment, the culture.
But without Florida State, I never would have realized how much I actually miss it. I never would have realized how much my culture and my ethnicity really make up who I am as a person.
And for that, I'm thankful.
