Chasing Dreams: A Journey from Guadalajara to America

From a very young age I knew that I was going to move out of my hometown Guadalajara, Jalisco for the rest of my life, after all, my parents had given me a very unique opportunity, a U.S. nationality. My goal was to finish high school in the U.S. and one day enroll in an American college, however, my parents were not willing to let a 17 year old girl move thousand of miles away on her own, with only the support of her older sister, that lived in Washington State. My mother was the one in opposition to this idea the most, every time I mentioned even the smallest comment about me moving away, she would instantly change topics, turn the volume up, or just say she didn’t want to talk about it, I would always insist, until she was willing to hear

Just like my mother had said, starting over was not an easy task, the first few months were not easy, I felt extreme homesickness, I was experiencing for the first time being almost fully independent, and I had to learn how to solve problems on my own, for example commuting in a unfamiliar city. However, there was not a second when I regretted this experience, on the contrary, this opened my appetite to more traveling, due to the fact that I meet so much new people, saw that there was more to life, than what I was used to seeing every day, and most importantly I learned about myself. I firmly believe that in order to fully know yourself, you need to experience different cultures. For example, In Washington due to the cold weather, I had no other option but to stay in doors, as a result, I discovered my passion for painting, something I otherwise would had not learned about myself if I stayed in Mexico. Not only this but making art helped me during the hardest periods of my life; it helped me understand that I could transform whatever bad thing was happening, in to something beautiful.
I want to be part of the wonderful experience of studying in one of the most artistic cities in the world because just like in Washington, I’m going to discover different parts of myself, make new friendships that will last a lifetime and learn about new ways of expressing