Personal Narrative: My Life In Dayton, Ohio

On July 20, 1997 I was born into a tiny town in Pennsylvania 28 miles northwest of Philadelphia called Lansdale. It is a borough of Montgomery County which is known to be more popular to say than Lansdale. The town is known to not be an exciting place to be, with only houses, schools and farms there is nothing to see or do. When I got to college I heard the same question with every new person I met, where are you from. I would say Lansdale, usually the person asking would look at me confused and question where. I learned to say Montgomery County because of how well known it is compared to my small town.

grew up in Chicago, Illinois, a beautiful city surrounded by violence and controversy by the media. I found things more simple when I was kid growing up here, there wasn't much to worry about but as I got older things became more complex here. The sounds of the " L "' or as you know it as, The Train, and the roaring sounds of cars passing by my house made me feel alive while growing up and as a matter of fact still does. You could wake up in the morning and see the vibrant blue skies being pierced by the skyscrapers and see other kids playing ball or riding their bikes. When it was summer time I would play ins sprinklers or go downtown and play in the fountains with my family. Of course, like most big cities I had to watch my back while growing up because you never knew what somebody was up to. It's weird really growing up here because you never know what's going to happen next , wether it's a good thing or a bad thing. All I can really say about growing up in Chicago is that if I had the chance to redo it, I'd do if a million times.

When people ask me where I am from and I say Cleveland, they often react as if I had said “vanilla.” But if I say Believeland, they perk up and typically want to hear more.

I was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana and I was the first child of my family. When I was one we moved to Arizona for a year. Then when we moved back to Indiana my sister was born, and now I have three brothers and three sisters. My life has taken taken some twists and turns and now I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a manager of agents for artists, performers and athletes.

Growing up in the Chicago area was a great experience for me, I was always a good kid but I had always struggled in school. The reason that I had a hard time in school was that I had A.D.D which was the cause of my distraction. Entering Pritzker College Prep was a different experience for me because I was overwhelmed, the reason as to why I felt overwhelmed was because of the amount of homework we got. I ended up spending nights where I would do my homework and wouldn’t get a sufficient amount of sleep and would also cause me to fall asleep in class. My grades started to drop which caused me to stop caring in school, so I also decided to just stop doing my homework and it caused a decrease in my grades.

It was a small town in Cornersville, Ohio. Nothing much ever happened in this small town until one day. A new family moved in one afternoon. Everyone was surprised because no one even noticed the house being built. Everyone was still delighted that they moved in because the couple, Bob and Nancy, were very friendly. Bob and Nancy helped with all the activities in town and were very generous. A couple of weeks after they moved in, a lot of strange things began. Money started disappearing, the lights in the town went out every night except for Bob and Nancy's lights, even people's pets went missing. One night, everyone's lights went out at 11:30 as usual, except there was an extremely loud noise. The neighbors went outside to see where all the

It was April of 1999. My family was at home. Children were running outside. The asphalt was burning. Cars rolled up to the entrance of the apartments and BANG. I grew up in Stockton, California. Surprisingly, as a minority, I wasn’t really a minority. There were, in fact, a large and diverse population of Asian-Americans. But, Stockton is not the ideal place to live. It was hot and dry, almost to the point of a drought. Stockton was also ranked as the one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in California. So, having a nice and safe family is kind of difficult. Eventually, my family decided to move to Crescent City, California when my dad retired. It was a world of difference. There were trees, plentiful water, and a nice cool temperature. This

Imagine your life being confined to eight and half square miles. This was a reality for me, up until age 14, when I first adventured out of my home state.

I was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 2003, I came from a hospital called Mercy. I moved to Chicago when I was two years old, most of my family lived there but Then I had to move back to go to school in Dubuque. I started school when I was just three years old my first school was Fulton elementary I stayed there since kindergarten to second grade then I went to Houston, Texas with my mom for third and forth grade.

I witnessed my cousins boyfriend corpse lying on my neighbors lawn. It was a humid summer night around 3:30 when I peeked through my window and saw my devastated cousin sobbing uncontrollably on my decaying porch. Being from East chicago, Indiana has transformed me into the person I am today.

I keep running from one to another. The rooms are big with white walls and ceilings. Here and there bright colors decorate the walls. Small groups of people converse over their opinions. Children reach out to touch and their mothers pull them in, smacking their hands and telling them no. I stop and spin around, trying to absorb everything around me. Then I stop and stare.

The Dayton community is a unique, diverse, and energetic family to be a part of while studying abroad. When I first went abroad, I had a small network of friends that I knew were going to be on the trip, as well, but there were many other students that I did not know. However, after a few days, strangers became friends. There is a quote that says, “It’s not about where you are, but who you’re with”. I live by this quote and agree that my trip to Rome would not have been what was without my classmates by my side. In addition, I have learned many new things about myself by spending my time in Rome with my classmates. Our common interest of UD provided us with a bond that united us to truly become our own little community amongst the thousands of people in Rome

Growing up in Middletown New Jersey was like living in outer space. Everything was so big and sirene. Space consists of a variety of vast colors. In New Jersey, during the summer, the grass was a luscious, emerald green. The sky was always a sapphire blue. During the winter, a blanket of scintillating frost crystallized over the grass. Like space, over the course of time, things in my hometown began to change.

Over the break, I went to Ohio State to see my family. When I got there they were acting a little weird. A little later they surprised me and my other family with a party.I was so confused, but then they said that my cousin Avery was getting married.We all were surprised because we had no clue what was going on.The person she was getting married to was, named Paul.I was so happy for my cousin.But this is just the beginning of my trip.

I am really wanting to go to visit the CBT for the last trip in Cincinnati, but you are volunteering to help us to ship the ITS1 back to SJ office.