My name is Gabriela and I am from Venezuela. Venezuela is a country that is supposed to be recognized for its natural and human beauty, its food and climate; instead, it is known for its government and the crises that it is going through. When living in Venezuela, you feel like the country is a huge family. Everyone is your brother or sister, even if it is the first time you are meeting that person. We, Venezuelans, have a dark sense of humor, we laugh at everything even our own tragedies because that is better than crying. I think that we are one of the most positive and happy people in the world, but at the same time, the situation in our country has made us mature faster.

When I was in my senior year of high school, I decided that I needed to leave my country to build a better future for myself and my family. I have to admit, that it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I left feeling uncertain: when am I going to be back? What is going to happen to my family? Am I going to have friends where I am going? Of course, I never told anyone what I was feeling because I love a challenge and this was the way to prove to myself that I can live in another country with different people and a different language.

The weird thing is that I had been preparing for this moment my whole life. The only problem was that I did not have the best of impressions of American people. Every single time, before coming to college, someone in the USA heard that I was from Venezuela I was bombarded by crazy questions like: Do you know what a phone is? Do you live in the trees? Do you have any clothes? I found this funny because people could see that I was fully clothed and I had my phone in one of my hands so I just followed the joke. Later, I realized that they really believed all of those things and I made it my mission to make Venezuela known, for its good reasons.

When I arrived at Clark, I saw a different side of Americans, they welcomed me like I was one of them and they did not feel uncomfortable when I hugged them. I was happy that I had found my place. At the beginning, it was difficult to get used to speaking English all the time so I stayed quiet most of the time. Also, it was difficult because I started during the spring semester and everyone had already made their groups. Even if I was, and am, super happy, there is something missing. Even if all of my friends are as warm as the Venezuelan people, it will never be the same. I will always feel this emptiness of being away from the country who made me who I am, but I am grateful for having the opportunity to see other things and experience the world by myself.

Now I can say that I am happy and proud of being a Clarkie.