When I first came to UMass, I was worried that I would not find the right major and regret my choice after four years. After many advising meetings, I decided to pursue and public health and Spanish double major. We have all been told that being fluent in another language would benefit us in our future so majoring in Spanish made sense. However, I am also fluent in Portuguese and was raised by parents who immigrated to the United States from Brazil. My feelings towards my family heritage have always been something that I have struggled with. When I was younger I did not appreciate the language barrier and felt different from all of my American friends. I was also constantly deterred from speaking in Portuguese with my Brazilian friends because people would wrongfully assume that we were talking poorly about them. After growing up in a diverse town, I moved to a majority-white small town for high school. There I was confronted head-on of how different I felt around people who grew up privileged and followed a culture that seemed so unfamiliar to me. Although I was raised in the United States, my home is everything but “American.” I only began to truly value my heritage once I realized that although I was a minority, my culture was what led me to become the person I am today and was grateful that I did not stray from the culture despite several societal attempts to deter me from my familial customs. Continue reading →