Furthermore, coming here has made me realize that Colombians are very conservative in comparison with Americans. People talk more openly about topics like sex, homosexuality and drugs, and there are a remarkably bigger number of people with tattoos and piercings. Considering this, the Colombian society is way more judgmental and even more with things that are out of the ordinary. Getting a tattoo would give me the disapproval of all my family and a lot of glares on the streets. Where I grew up, talking about things like sex was not that common and only happened with close friends or family. Children are not exposed to this topic until they are at least 13. This society made me in some way more conservative. Although, I do not disagree with people that have tattoos (I actually really like them), topics like sex and drugs make me uncomfortable. Moreover, I have noticed that here people pay more attention to race, dividing people by color of skin. In Colombia, although we do notice that, categorizing people by socioeconomic group is more common. All my life I thought I was white, however in the first weeks of college people classified me as Latina, which for me was very weird because that term was used for ethnic and not for race. People do not realize that Latino could mean a black or white person, so they often use the word mistakenly. Race and ethnicity did not affect me much when I was home, because I was one more of the whole. Nevertheless, when I moved to America these two things gained more importance and I became part of a minority group. I was raised in a middle high social class family, which means I had access to a private education and a good number of commodities.
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I think this was one of the factors that influenced me the most, because without it I could not have attend to the school I did. For fourteen years I studied in an all-girls catholic school. This school had the graters influence in my life and they shaped me into the person I am know. I had a liberal arts education, which required about fifteen classes in different field per year. I had to take philosophy, chemistry, physics, geography, history and many other courses that prepared me for university. Moreover, Community service was highly important for my school. This, made me more aware of the social problems of my country and taught me to always help whoever needs it. Being able to have a good education clearly gave more opportunities than other people. Thanks to it I was able to study here and my classmates in the top universities of the country. Furthermore, studying in an all-girls school protected me from the stereotype that women are less capable of doing things than men, since we were required to do everything without comparing us to men so there was no preferences for any gender. Although I was born in the city, my family came from the rural area. People from this places tend to have bigger families, and to be even closer. Thanks to this, I grew up playing in the mud with fifteen or more of my cousins, riding horses, playing with animals and interacting with nature. This had a big impact on my life, since it made me more environmentally friendly. Also, I am comfortable with insects
I think this was one of the factors that influenced me the most, because without it I could not have attend to the school I did. For fourteen years I studied in an all-girls catholic school. This school had the graters influence in my life and they shaped me into the person I am know. I had a liberal arts education, which required about fifteen classes in different field per year. I had to take philosophy, chemistry, physics, geography, history and many other courses that prepared me for university. Moreover, Community service was highly important for my school. This, made me more aware of the social problems of my country and taught me to always help whoever needs it. Being able to have a good education clearly gave more opportunities than other people. Thanks to it I was able to study here and my classmates in the top universities of the country. Furthermore, studying in an all-girls school protected me from the stereotype that women are less capable of doing things than men, since we were required to do everything without comparing us to men so there was no preferences for any gender. Although I was born in the city, my family came from the rural area. People from this places tend to have bigger families, and to be even closer. Thanks to this, I grew up playing in the mud with fifteen or more of my cousins, riding horses, playing with animals and interacting with nature. This had a big impact on my life, since it made me more environmentally friendly. Also, I am comfortable with insects