8 Things You Learn When You Are A Latina In Indiana

If you read my bio you will see that I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, but moved to Miami, FL when I was 12-years-old, where I had to learn English since my first language is Spanish.

I lived there with my family for 6 years, until I moved to West, Lafayette, IN, by myself for college. Back home all of my best friends, and pretty much everyone I knew, was Hispanic. And all of closest friends had moved to Miami around the same time I did, so back home it was pretty common for everyone to move from a different country—for me, it was definitely nothing extraordinary—until I came to Purdue, where out of all my friends probably 3 speak Spanish.

So if you are like me and are surrounded by Americans 24/7 because they are your best friends or just because well, you decided to come study in the Midwest, you learn a couple of things. These are things that will make you laugh when you are reading them because of how accurate they are.

Here are 8 things I have learned since I moved to West, Lafayette, IN:

1. Nobody will understand a single word you say when I speak to your parents on the phone.

2. Everyone who is taking Spanish will attempt to say things in Spanish and will want you to try and have a conversation with them.

3. You will automatically become all of your friend's Spanish tutor and will, more than once, end up doing their homework.

4. People won’t believe or understand how you learn to speak English so fast.

5. They will try to look up weird words or phrases in English to see if you can pronounce them or know what they mean.

6. If you are at a party and a Spanish song comes up, count on everyone automatically looking at you because you will most likely be the only one who actually knows the lyrics.

7. Everyone will think that moving from another country is the coolest and rarest thing ever.

8. They will try to understand the texts you send to your other Hispanic friends.