New Kid Narrative

From a young age I knew I wanted to travel, see new places, and experience different and exotic cultures from that of my own. I’ve always been curious about the world, ideas, and people around me. Growing up, I traveled to various states to visit family and experienced different surroundings that lit a spark in me, creating this need, this wanderlust, to travel the world. When I was nine, I moved from Greenville, SC to Covington, Louisiana where my dad and most of my family lived. Young and unafraid, I easily made friends and became well-acquainted with my new surrounding, soon finding myself falling in love with Louisiana culture, the captivating music, the enticing food, and the many cultures that cultivate there intrigued and excited me. Two years

Facing the typical struggles of a new kid brought new, scary challenges, but challenges that would help me grow and discover the person I am today. Arriving as “the new kid” in the last two years of middle school suddenly generated bouts of social anxiety and depression, scary feelings I had never faced before then. In the beginning, I struggled to open up and for a long time I just went through the motions to get through the day and forgot to actually live. Eventually, I pushed myself to ignore everything that was telling me to stay in bed and tried to find what made me excited to start a new day. Naturally drawn to history and literature, I resorted to books and television as an outlet during the transition of meeting new people and making new friends. Discovering new and old stories eventually lead to the resurgence of my curiosity of the world around me and what it had to offer me and what I could potentially offer the world. My curiosity helped me to become more open-minded and left me with an insatiable need to always continue learning new and widespread