“The world is your oyster.”

This phrase is often heard when someone is talking about finding an escape their long days at work, or going away somewhere for vacation with their family. When you think of a world traveler, someone who has the world at their fingertips, who do you think of? Do you think of a person who has been to places such as Rome, Madrid, Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, or London?

When I think of a world traveler, I like to think of myself. To me, someone who has seen the world has not only been able to see it physically, but through books, the internet, and even through the creativity of their imagination.

I will never forget the journey that I went through to become a world traveler through my physical travels around the world. I can name twelve different countries that I have either lived in for some time or simply visited as a tourist, but I can name over a million other countries that I would love to see for myself. I have seen glorious and beautiful cities in Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, England, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and all across the United States. I had traveled all across the globe by the age of fifteen.

If you can only imagine or understand what it is like to be young and already such an avid world traveler, then you may know that it is extremely difficult for someone who is eight or ten years old to have a normal childhood growing up all across the globe. It was never a bad thing to get to see the world, but it wasn’t always tea and cookies. My father was in the military when I was a little girl, and year after year, my family and I were uprooted from one home and moved to a new one. As a child this made it especially difficult to make new friends whenever we moved to a new place. I became much more introverted and gave up trying to talk to people altogether. However, whenever the subject of world geography arose in class, I was never hesitant to share my experiences out loud.

Although, every time someone asked me where I was from or where I grew up, I could never give them a straight answer. My mother just told me to tell them where I was born and that I basically grew up all over the world. It was the honest truth. I was never really in one place for very long.

Unfortunately, the definition of the word “home” didn't have an exact meaning for me since I have never had a permanent home that I've lived in. Because of this, I don’t believe that I had the proper chance to find out who I really am as a human being. I’m not entirely sure as to what I want to be or what I want to do with my life- but then again, who does? It took me a lot of time to think about these questions as I was growing up. I did not know the true meaning of my mother’s words until now.

The entire world is my home. I have found my meaning and myself through my past, present, and future travels. I have found my identity through the places I’ve been and the sights I’ve seen. I know it has shaped me into the woman that I am today.

To me, home means who you are through a global lens; how you view the world and how it views you. It means your lifestyle as a human being of this Earth. We all may live in one or a few different places; however, who we are may come from somewhere else entirely. I may be an American citizen, but a vast majority of my family hails from Puerto Rico. What being a Hispanic American means to me, is that I have grown up with rich culture coursing through my veins. My family has largely contributed to the meaning of the word home to me.

Through my travels, I have come to learn that the word “home” doesn’t mean where you live, it means your experiences. It means that wherever you may go, you may be able to discover more and more about yourself every single day of your life. “Home” means the people you meet, the food you eat, and the air around you that you breathe. Your very existence on this Earth and the life that you are living this very moment is your home.