Whether it was religion, community events or extensive family dinners, it seemed that everyone had something that connected them to other people, and I sensed that I was missing out on something big.
By the time I was in high school, I didn’t feel like I belonged in Texas anymore. Though it was my home, I still felt like a piece that had been shoved into someone else’s puzzle, and I knew that I needed to find where I truly fit. College provided me with the opportunity to leave the nest and explore a place away from home, so I applied to universities all across America. Knowing that my parents didn’t have the money to pay for out-of-state tuition, I got to work applying for scholarships on weekends and counting on a lucky break.
I chose Brandeis University near Boston, Massachusetts after they awarded me with a scholarship that made an out-of-state education possible for my family. I didn’t know much about Boston and didn’t even visit the Brandeis campus; knowing that I would be able to experience life in a place far away home was enough for me. I still had my childhood dream of traveling, and I planned on majoring in Business in order to work with foreign countries to establish ethical channels of trade. As I took classes in other subjects, I became engrossed in Anthropology (the study of culture) and felt that the topic would help me better understand my own cultural background, so I added it as a second major.
College challenged me to adapt to a new environment, to forge new relationships and to hold myself accountable for my studies. College also introduced me to people with perspectives entirely different from my own, forcing me to accept that there were so many aspects to life that I was unaware of prior.
