Personal Narrative: My Trip To Colombia

I have come to associate myself with the identity of an American Hispanic. When I was young, I never thought of my identity. I always thought everyone was equal and there were no distinct ways to stereotype a person. An event that helped me realize my identity was a trip to Venezuela where my family is from. Even though I was born in the United States, I met several different family members on this trip and saw so many different cultural views and sites that I had not seen in the US. In Venezuela, everyone speaks Spanish, and there were so many different types of foods like “Arepas,” which is a type of food made of ground maize dough, a staple where I’m from.

When I woke up that morning I was ready to go to Honduras. We stayed in Anthony’s key . Anthony’s key is a beautiful Island resort. I went with my sister, my dad, my mom, My grandpa, and my grandma. We got to do things such as snorkeling, canoeing, and horseback riding. It was a very fun experience for all of us.

It's significant to me because when I went with my family to Cartagena, I was 7 years old. it was the first time I was going on a trip outside of the United States. when we got to Cartagena I was amazed by how beautiful everything is, and I was shocked with how different it was from back home. The differences I saw sparked a curiosity in me, that I never knew existed. from that moment I fell in love with learning about different places around the world and the culture that comes with that place. the trip to Cartagena was also the first time I got to see some of my family members. I have always lived in Florida and only knew about the family members I had in South America through what my parents would say about them. When we arrived to South

“Mangos, mangos, 3 Quetzales !!”. This is the first thing I heard and saw on my trip to Guatemala this past summer. I saw a 9 year old barefoot boy struggling to walk through the busy streets of Guatemala carrying a woven basket that contained ripe and bright orange mangos inside of it. I turned around to my dad and said, “Dad look!! Oh my gosh!! Shouldn’t he be in school?”. My dad always told me about Guatemala and the continuous struggles that he and others faced on a daily basis when he lived there. For the first time I actually saw what my dad talked to about with my very own eyes. What I was seeing was crystal clear and not what I hoped to be a dream.

What’s it like being in Guatemala? What’s it like being on a plane? I asked these questions to myself. On June 29, 2012 I had the opportunity to find answers to these questions, however in a way that I wished would have not happened. My reason for going to Guatemala wasn’t to rest and have fun. It was for my grandpa’s funeral, a day that changed me forever. A day where I learned what it really means to be grateful.

In June of 2016, I got a summer job working for Jeffco Open Space.I wasn’t excited but I wanted to go on a trip to the Dominican Republic. I needed to save roughly $3,000. I was gonna be working on trails all day in the summer heat and I required to have at least one 32 ounce water bottle. I went online and purchased my first Nalgene bottle off of Amazon, I think it was around $15 with shipping and handling. It came in the mail and it was about three weeks before my job started and I loved it! It’s pink with a silver-grey lip. At first, I didn’t decorate it with stickers but in July I went to Pride Festival and got my first sticker. Its circle, it has this rainbow background, and in block print it says PRIDE. Then I eventually added my

The day has finally come to go on vacation and my family, and I departed promptly from our house at 4:30 in the morning. Our flight was scheduled for 7 in the morning at Pittsburgh International Airport. We had to arrive there early because all people flying international had to be there two hours before the flight. All of us boarded the flight out to Punta Cana, which is located in the Dominican Republic. I can remember that I was so excited to go, and I was the first on the flight. I am almost positive that it took over three hours to get to the Dominican Republic from Pittsburgh. It was a really long flight to me because I could not wait to get there, and I just wanted to land. Finally, the moment has come, and we landed. When we departed from the plane, they had hula dancers dancing around us, and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen. They had people that would take pictures of you when you got off the plane. My family and I obliged and got our pictures taken. After all our pictures were taken, we went inside the airport and

Moving to a new country is very difficult for every person, even more, if it does not have anything in common with your origin country. Crossing borders, taking airplanes, and risking your life can become part of the immigration process. In this essay, I am going to explain the history of how I get out of Cuba. Also, I will be explaining how I reached this country. It was hard, but not impossible, and it was paid off already.

I was always careless about all of my valuables,that was until they were all gone. It was Christmas vacation of 2011 and my mom was planning a flight to go to Dominican Republic to escape the cold Boston weather. My mother could only pick between me and my sister to go with her and naturally she chose my sister. She was probably still mad at me for times she has bought me electronics and video games that i don’t even touch anymore. I wanted to stay home by myself while they were away but she practically forced me to go to New York where my dad lives. I wasn't against the idea of seeing my dad I just didn't want to go a state where he was the only person I knew. But it was already decided so I got my stuff ready and got ready to leave and left in a transportation bus to New York. When I arrived there my dad was waiting for me in front of the apartment that he lived. Before even entering in his house his took me out to eat.I didn’t even have time to unpack. About the time we were eating my mom and my sister were arriving to Dominican Republic. After me and my dad finished eating he asked me

In the summer of 2011 when I was the age of thirteen, I reached the biggest milestone in my life; which was going to Nicaragua all by myself. I could remember the day when my dad booked the flight and thinking how my siblings and I would experience where my parents grew up and how things worked in their hometown. It was not until a few days later when my dad walked into my room; seriously but not furiously and said, “Son at your age, you should feel so lucky that you guys have a better life than your mother and I had. The ticket I bought, was for you and only for you; you are the only one going on this trip so, then you know what your mother and I went through to be here to give you guys the life we wanted as a kid.” I did not understand what

Growing up, I had the privilege of exploring different cultures in my community; one aspect - food. A love for going to a Chinese restaurant by my school and converse in Mandarin Chinese with the waitress, or go to the Mexican grills near my home and learn the cuisine in Spanish, spurred my passion for finding a connection to my own culture’s value of food. With so many wide ranges of cultural foods, I have begun to learn that it wasn't just one culture that loved food or good times, but a universal theme.

We went to an all-you-can-eat buffet and we wanted to find out the different foods presented there. We also wanted to find out what type of food would be suitable for international week. We also got to taste the food and explore the tastes of different countries such as India, china and even America.

The buffet was… interesting and definitely Peruvian… but good none the less. David and I both battled upset stomachs, something I have been all too familiar with on this trip, but we survived. Once, settled in we were treated to about six different styles of Peruvian dance, many of which became interactive! First was Matt Allen who marveled us with his ‘unique’ talent, but even better yet was the performance we witnessed from Ford McArver and Mrs. Watson! There was a dance where the performing couples would try to light a piece of paper on fire which was clipped to the others butt, while they were trying to dance away. This is exactly what Ford and Mrs. Watson got called up to do . While Ford embraced it and did more shimmying that he did lighting we all laughed hysterically as Mrs. Watson began running away when her partner was attempting to light her on fire. Besides this wonderful spectacle, the other highlight of dinner was Andrew Bansek and Thomas Carter getting turned away from an “all you can eat” dessert spread after taking about 30 of the miniature brownies each! And I must say the brownies helped my stomach too… once again proving to myself that sugar works very medicinally.

I was just a young girl when my aunt took me to a typical Brazilian restaurant to eat a feijoada. Because our city is in the South of Brazil, with a strong European influence, some dishes are not that common here. But she has wished to try that specific dish for a long time. Her parents are from Guinea-Bissau, an African country, and she has heard that Feijoada was created by enslaved Africans to use the dish the white masters would throw away. In order to try it she took me with her. The restaurant was simple, with rustic tables and chairs, but full of customers, we had to wait about one hour to get a table. It was worth waiting: the dish is a wonderful mixture of flavors and seasons, it is difficult to describe. Basically, it is formed by

This book was very entertaining because all of the exotic details about the food and culture. Since the details were very fascinating it made the horrifying food sound delicious. Now, I want to try the food, maybe not! I’ve heard many of the food that was in the book but as I read it I found many facts that I’ve never heard before. Also, in each food section they give a poem about the food which