My family has lived in State College, Pennsylvania since I was two years old. It’s a cute little university town with lots of cool things to do and restaurants to go to (my favorite is called The Waffle Shop). My parents love to travel, and both of them moved a lot when they were younger. My dad was born in Georgia but grew up Puerto Rico, while my mom lived all over the U.S., from Delaware to Georgia to Maryland to Louisiana. Because they got to know so many parts of the United States, my parents instilled in me a sense of adventure and the desire to see how people from different places live.
My relationship with Germany began when I was five years old. My dad was writing a book on the German composer Richard Strauss, so my parents, my little sister and I all lived in Germany for a summer! We went back again when I was ten, and it inspired me to learn German.
After high school I went to Dickinson College. Dickinson has a lot of international students, so my friends were from all over the world. Some of my best friends were from Tunisia, China, India and even Germany! Sometimes Americans would think it was strange that I spent so much time with people from other countries. Once, someone said to me, “I’ve noticed you always hang out with all of those international students.
