The difference about being biracial dawned on me just a few months ago. Being in college has exposed me to different views, perspectives and people.

Meeting people is a part of the college process, getting to know someone is extremely important. For me, I found it hard to introduce myself. Others would ask me, “What are you?” and I would always say Hispanic as a quick response.

But in truth that was not the case. As I got to know more and more people, my answers started to differ, I would say white or Jewish or Hispanic, or a combination of all three.

When I filled out my voter registration forms back in November, I had to choose a racial category. Then and there I had a dilemma, I didn’t fit into any of the categories listed. “White-non Hispanic, Asian, Black and Hispanic,” those were my choices.

As I looked at my options I wondered why I had to be categorized, why I couldn’t just write on the side, “Hey government, it’s OK. I’m Jewish, white and Hispanic.” I had to choose Hispanic, because technically I am white, but I’m only 1/2. As I input my information, a little part of me wondered if I would ever fit in.

A few months past by, and it was January. On one of my many scrolls through Buzzfeed in boredom, a video caught my eye. It was called “The Struggle of Being Mixed Race.” I sat there pondering what this video would entail. Would people understand the current dilemma that I had just realized I had felt throughout my whole life?

There was a quote underneath the title and it said “It’s difficult learning you don’t have to decide what race you are.” This quote and video resonated with me because over the course of my lifetime...

I have been exposed to 2 extremely different cultures: a family that is crazy, loving, talkative and uniquely Hispanic, or a family that I talk to once in a while connecting religiously, intellectually and having intense discussions and debates with.

I’ve gone through phases of my life where I was so exposed to being Hispanic, speaking Spanish all of the time, learning Spanish and everything about Dominican culture. There have been times where I was so focused on learning Hebrew, and exploring my Jewish heritage. Two very different lifestyles in me and with me my whole life.

There was even a point in my life where I tried to deny the fact that I was Hispanic, white and Jewish. There was no guidance, no rule book, it was just me on my own discovering what made me, me.

Over the course of my freshman year so far, I have actually become a person that is unconfused, and I found my way back to the yellow brick road of culture. The Buzzfeed video that I watched was completely right, choosing one culture over the other is impossible, and I knew that from experience.

In this world, everyone wants to fit in somewhere somehow. Whether it's in the marching band, ethnically or racially, we have the mindset that you have to fit in. I struggled with the conflict and feeling that I did not fit in anywhere.

That I was alone.

Sometimes it's hard for others to understand, I don’t have the same skin color as my Dominican family, in every photo I notice that I stick out. At my bat mitzvah, 1/2 of the ceremony was in Spanish, and some of my 7th grade friends disrespected me and gave me weird looks when they realized that I was in fact Hispanic.

I cannot hide the fact that I look white, but am Hispanic, speak Spanish fluently and am Jewish. I now just embrace the fact that I am most likely one of the few people of my kind.

I have learned it is OK to stand out, and embrace who I am, a person of two races.

College has given me the opportunity to be exposed to both cultures at the same time. I can now pick and chose elements from each culture that reverberate through me. I now work at the Embassy of Spain and continue my Spanish studies in school. I go to schul (synagogue) occasionally, celebrate holidays and am enrolled in a program to explore questions about Judaism.

For me it is all about having a happy medium, and I think that exploring different balances is the way to succeed. But so far, college has made my life more balanced because I have more of a say and a sense of who I am and who I want to be.

I now know a race or multiple races should not define a person, and it's really about who you are inside. Race for me now contributes to who I am as a person, but does not define me.