Personal Narrative: Why I Chose Southwest

It is not often that you get to wake up to a perfectly painted peach, pink and purple coated sky, witness the feel of a salty sea breeze brush up against your skin or stare out into the atmosphere, trying to figure out at which shade of blue the ocean concludes and where the sky begins. Had this been a few months ago I would be exploring Castle Hill in Budapest, making headway towards the glaciers of Argentine Patagonia or even tasting my way through Greece. But instead, I will pack my bags with a heavy heart to kickoff my expedition to the place that needs me the most. With my ticket in hand, I would board my flight to Houston, Texas.

I hope your Tuesday afternoon is going terrific. I am Miten Bhadania and I would like to formally introduce myself as your colleague working in the Tech department as Developer.

My mind will often wander to all the places I've lived in and all those I would love to travel to, or visit again. I think of the streets of Santa Fe, how fresh it would be compared to the over 100 degree temperature of were I am now, the hot dry heat of El Paso, Texas, a place I often come back to, the soil were my roots are permanently ingrained. El Paso has grown significantly in the past 10 years alone and is now the sixth most populous city in Texas (World Population Reviw). It's far from it's days when it was widely known as “El Chuco,” or “ChucoTown,” nicknames whose origins and meaning have long been debated, but no matter how much of the new generation is unfamiliar with these terms the history lives on through the streets and current

I am not from San Antonio. I am not from Texas. I’m from California. Where no one twangs, or drawls, or even says hi to the stranger standing in line at the grocery store. Texas, half way across the U.S and what seems like a whole other country compared to California. It is a completely different place that I could have ever imagined living and calling home. I came to Texas to find myself. I didn’t know that when I came here, but it is what ended up happening.

In 1978, when I was 14, my family moved from Phoenix, AZ to Cerritos, CA; a small city in the heart of the greater Los Angeles area. Phoenix was mainly White, Barry Goldwater conservatives trying their best to hold onto 1950’s Americana, but Los Angeles in the late 1970s was different; it was alive, vibrating to frequencies of the differing cultures that called the L.A. basin home. Looking back it still fills me with excitement, but truth be told I was scared to death. When I first arrived I had no friends, no experience to prepare me for the full on culture shock I found myself facing, nor any thought of how special that area would be to me. No other place than Southern California could have provided a better backdrop to develop the foundation

Have you ever had everything you’ve ever known, stripped away from like it had never even mattered. The things you most loved and cherished, such as friends and family, taken away. Have you ever had to leave the only place you’ve ever known, as well as the people who lived there. I can honestly tell you I thought the world was ending when my parents announced that we would be leaving our quaint town in Arizona and moving to the big city. A few miles outside of Boston. The suburbs to be exact.

“Welcome to Texas.” That’s what I read as I gazed out the backseat window. My family and I were heading down to Brownsville, Texas for a vacation. Brownsville is an awesome city, not only is it right along the Gulf of Mexico but it’s also right on the border of Texas. As we got off the interstate and into the actual state, I remember looking out the window and thinking how much different — in a good way — Texas was from Illinois. Although we were staying in Brownsville, we would end up spending a lot of time in Port Isabel and South Padre Island, and even going into Mexico. Because of vacations like these ones, I think taking vacations are one of the best ways to take a break but they will never replace a home.

In 1718 Spanish missionaries founded Texas taking it as a Spanish territory. Many whites started to go to Texas and began to take over. In March 1836 Texans revolted against their Spanish rule and declared their independence from Spain. Texas then became an independent nation, but Texas could not protect themselves from the Spanish attacks. On December 29th, 1845, after almost 10 years of waiting to be accepted into the United states, Texas became part of the United States.

“American Dream.” Those two words are what drove my parents to escape the challenges of living in poverty stricken Colombia. Being a first generation, young, female, Latina immigrant my upbringing has made me fortunate enough to embrace all of the opportunities available for me.

My story actually begins here in El Paso and has continued its course here as well. I was born and raised in El Paso and have been living here ever since. The most further back I can remebr of my child hood was when I started Elementar school at Clendenin. I mostly remember how I wanted to help friends or people that I could when i was younger but as a kid you really could not do that to well. As i grew up that feeling still was there but at this time I just felt like being an architect. Everything changed when I was in middle school and around the time Halo Reach the Xbox game came out. I was at a friends house playing games late and lost track of time, it was 12 and way past my curfew. His parents had left but I did need to get back home so I left walking home.

There was one severe weather even that had happened during my childhood while growing up in the south tip of Texas. It is an experience I would never forget.

My story began on September 12, 2000, in Phoenix, Arizona. I was born to my mother, a faithful member of the gospel, and my father, an alcoholic. These two traits did not function well together and they ended up getting a divorce in 2001. This would start a new chapter that took my mother, three sisters and I to Elko, Nevada. Nearby was the reservation of my Native American (NA) tribe, the Western Shoshone. My NA heritage came from my father, so when he left my life, he took the culture with him. My grandmother did all she could to include me in the tribe by making me traditional NA items such as moccasins and shawls.

My life’s journey since graduating from Maryville High School in 1965 took me from my home town for several years, but I returned here in the summer of 2013. It is great to be back in Maryville! In addition to Maryville and Knoxville, I lived in West Tennessee (Bradford and Milan) and Fort Lauderdale.

Dear Mom and Dad, After our first trip to Oklahoma you two immediatley fell in love with the animals, how much space there was, and the oppertunities. On the long thousand mile ride back by car, you both talked and talked about wanting to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Us three kids didn't know weather to be okay with that or to be sad. our entire family is in Arizona;we all knew was we were going to start knew lives. In 2014 we the letter from carver right as we were heading out the to door to go get groceries, mom opened the letter first looking in shock she gave it to me; I read it as fast as I could to get it over with. I don't know what happened; but there ws screaming, hugging, and Monze asking "Mom did she get in? Mom!" Getting accepted was

11th of January 2015 was my first day in Phoenix, Arizona. It all did begin since I've decided to find a new school that combines great facilities who would be productively able to help me get the best education that would look for and marvelous experience as an international student. Arizona State University was on my list of well-located and well-organized universities. I just moved from Indiana State last Spring semester which was quite fascinating and awesome since I kind of hated Indiana because of how boring it was back there despite the fact that I love how cold Indian is. I have yet spent almost 9 months in here, and everything seems extremely excellent in here.