Reflective Essay: How America's Culture Changed My Life

I am 18 years old and I grew up in Jamaica. I am the youngest child for my dad and the eldest for my mom. That may just be a simple irrelevant detail for most people but for me that’s been my identity for 18 years now. I have two smaller brothers and one sister that I used to look after in Jamaica and they mean the world to me. While watching them grow, and taking care of them while my mom tend to house chores and with school and everything else it seems as if life was just passing me by. I was the type of person who would just stay home and read books and study and that was my life. Yes I had friends, but I only saw them at school because I never go anywhere. I was a “house rat”. When I was 15, my sister passed away and I felt as if I died with her. During those months after to her death, I didn’t want to stay home because her memory was just floating around the house. Everywhere I went I saw her so I started getting involve into extra curriculum activities at school to keep me busy. I joined my school netball team, I became the president of my class, I joined the Spanish club, and I even started my own …show more content…
Richard Blanco had a hard time blending into America’s Culture which is something I can relate to on many levels, such as trying to maintain my Jamaican culture while living in Florida. With his parents being Cuban and him growing up in America, he had many conflicts deciding if he’s Cuban or American. Reading the book The prince of Los Cocoyos has help me to be more prepared to transition into college life. It taught me that everyone is unique in their own way and we are all equal whether we were born in America or not. I think this relates to my college transitioning because here at FIU, there are a lot of diversity, many of us are not American born and we all have to learn to adapt to new culture not only American culture but to also adapt to college life as a