May of 2012 I had made my final decision to move to Tampa, Florida in order to continue my academic endeavors. This would be the first time I'd change my residency to outside of Puerto Rico, and this would also mark the beginning of the struggle that for four years now, I have known as, "being a Puerto Rican in The United States."

My "struggle" of being Puerto Rican in the United States can take various different forms such as political struggles, economic struggles, or even racial and social struggles. Now, don't get me wrong...not every moment I have spent in the United States has been a struggle! I've had many wonderful experiences living in Tampa and have met a plethora of amazing people from all over the state, country, and world. Nevertheless, these wonderful experiences don't take away from the constant trails and tribulations of being a Puerto Rican national living within the country that has colonized your own. So, let's delve into the world of minor and major struggles that I have faced in the United States for the past four years.

Let's begin with my all-time favorite question that I've been asked so many times that contains some racial and political flavor:

Struggle #1 - "So, Are you an American or are you Puerto Rican?"

Regardless of the fact that Captain America is my favorite superhero, unlike him I do not consider myself an American. However, when I was first asked this question, I probably thought myself, "to be an American and free." But, throughout my time here in the United States, my answer has changed to, "I'm a Puerto Rican that has been historically imposed U.S. citizenship." This answer would probably create more confusion to the person that asked me, which would require me to continue explaining. I would explain to them that Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony until 1898, when the Spanish-Cuban-American War took place and the United States acquired Puerto Rico. Then I would go on to explain how in 1917, Puerto Ricans were imposed U.S. citizenship, and then continue on about Puerto Rico's colonial history with the United States. Once I explained all the history, I would get to the contemporary question of Puerto Rico's political status and explain how some people wish to remain a "commonwealth" while others wish to become the 51st state of the United States, and minorities wish to be a free and sovereign country by means of independence. Nevertheless, the way I answer this question has changed throughout my life, especially the four years I've spent living in the United States.

I had been asked that question so many times, I feel like I should just carry around with a printed copy of my answer and hand it out to whoever asks me again. I've had this political conversation about Puerto Rico's political status with friends, professors and even drunk people at a liquor store. "Why with drunk people at a liquor store" you may ask? Because of my second biggest struggle....

Struggle #2 - Buying alcohol in the United States

Why is buying alcohol in the United States such a struggle? Because every liquor store is going to think my Puerto Rican state license is a fake I.D. and will more likely than not call their manager to give the verdict on my I.D. One day at the liquor store, I was trying to buy a six-pack of Coronas. I gave my license to the cashier and it took a good 15 minutes, a lot of frustration and a political conversation with the drunk man next to me in order for me to buy a damn six-pack of beer. The cashier was tried explaining to me that they, "Don't get a lot of Puerto Rican IDs around here," and in my mind I was thinking, "I was here last week and you took my ID! And I was probably there the weekend before and they took my ID then as well!" (I like Coronas a lot). Anyways, drinking habits aside, this is just another highlight of how ignorant and uneducated many people can be. The aforementioned political conversation occurred when I lost it and said in a frustrated tone, "There's an AMERICAN FLAG on the license! It's right there! It's not my fault that Puerto Rico is a U.S. colony!" If you're wondering how the rest of the conversation went, refer yourself to "Struggle #1" above.

Struggle #3 - "What are you?"

When people think "Puerto Rican" they may picture, or think of Latinx stereotypes like Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara, George Lopez, Gabriel Iglesias, etc. However, people are always weirded out when I tell them that I'm Puerto Rican because of my white skin. I was probably one of the whitest students in my classroom back in Puerto Rico, but I was still accepted as a Puerto Rican. I won't go into this struggle too much because it was only prevalent my first year here in the States, but you can read more about how racial and political identities have evolved throughout my life by clicking here.

Struggle #4 - The unfunny jokes about my political and racial identity.

"We own you! Ha ha ha" is one of the more infuriating ones. Colonialism - it's not funny. It has caused multiple crises in Puerto Rico of political, economic, and social kinds and have even resulted in human rights violations. If you click in the following link, you can read about some of the ramifications and history of colonialism in Puerto Rico in a previous article.

"Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican...you're all the same, right? Ha ha ha." Yeah, stop that. I won't generalize all Americans to be ignorant and stupid if you stop generalizing all Latin Americans to be undocumented immigrants trying to "steal your jobs". In order to educate people on the necessities to get rid of these stereotypes and generalizations, I previously wrote an article about Hispanic Heritage Month that you should check out!

And last, but not least:

Struggle #5 - the beaches

Don't get me wrong...there are some beautiful beaches located in the United States. But, when you come from a place that has beaches that look like this,

It's kind of hard to leave these paradise-like beaches for beaches where the water is so cold that you can barely dip your big toe in them...