For those of you who do not know, I am adopted from Russia, and it has become a big part of me over the course of the past few years. I have been trying to learn as much as I can when I can about Russian history and culture. When I go out with one of my parents, people will ask if I get the blonde hair from the other parent. When people meet my parents and I, they will take a double take. They will say something like "you're so blonde and they're so...not. Where did that come from?" Or they will say something like "You have freckles like your mom?" Trying to find the similarities. People tell me I look more like my dad.

Having been adopted, I get asked so many questions. Where are you from? Do you remember it? Can you speak Russian? Would you want to find your biological parents? Do you want to go back to Russia someday? Have you ever been back? But the one that gets me the most is, when did you know? How did your parents tell you? When did you have the big talk?

To answer that question, I vaguely remember being told. When I say vaguely, I mean almost to the point that I do not remember. It is just something I have known and has been there in the back of my head for my entire life. To be honest, I don't think I really knew what it meant to be adopted when I was little. I thought that it was something everyone went through. To me it was not anything special. It was just something about me. As I got older, I obviously figured out that not everyone was adopted. I started to think more and more about it, and how I wanted to go back to see the town I am from. I would think about how my life would be so different if I had never been adopted or never left Russia. I think about how lucky I am to have been adopted by my parents.

Knowing that I was adopted has helped me become the person I am today. It has helped shape my interests and possibly what I want to do in my life. I enjoy reading about Russian history and I love learning about Russian culture. For the past few years, I have been trying to relearn the Russian language. Hopefully, next year, I will be able to study abroad in St. Petersburg.

Being adopted from Russia at the age of three, I experienced some developmental delays. Not only in language, but with learning as well. I have overcome these challenges and I have learned so much about myself. I do not really think about what would have happened if I had never left anymore. My thinking has changed and I think about where life will take me and how I will write my own story.