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“Where are you from again? Mexico?” they ask.
“No, not Mexico,” I reply.
“Puerto Rico?”
“No, I’m from Cuba,” I say.
“What do they speak there, Cuban?”
“No actually, we speak Spanish.”
“Do you have Cuban cigars?” they assume.
“I’m sorry, I don’t.”
“Are you related to Elian Gonzalez?” they insist.
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Fidel Castro?”
I laugh and say, “Not him either.”
“So did you come here by raft?”
I shake my head no.
“Did you swim?”
“No, I came by plane,” I say.
“Do you like to dance salsa?”
“Absolutely! I love salsa!” I lie.
“Do you sing like Gloria Estefan?”
“No, I have my own voice.”
It’s stereotypes like these that I have had to overcome. People assume they know what type of person I am when they hear I’m from Cuba, but I’m here to prove them wrong.
I left my communist homeland when I was three and like many Cubans we settled in Miami for some time. I never realized I was a minority until I was seven and moved to a small town in Illinois. Don’t get me wrong, I always knew I was special, in the way every seven year old thinks they’re special. I just never knew I was different.
When I arrived in Illinois I noticed people had a hearing problem. They would constantly ask “what?” after I said something. Turns out they didn’t have a hearing problem… I had an accent.
The children still played with me regardless of my accent and I learned so much from them. They taught me that chocolate wasn’t pronounced “shocolate” and chair wasn’t the same thing as “share.”
When I was 12 I moved to a suburb outside of Cincinnati and thanks to my second grade class I no longer had an accent. I found that students were more accepting of me than they were of other minorities due to my light brown hair and light skin. This wasn’t second grade anymore; kids wouldn’t just play with anyone.
People were often surprised to hear I was from Cuba, telling me I don’t look Cuban. I would have to bite my tongue to not let out, “Well you don’t have blonde hair and blue eyes so you must not be American.”
Being a minority has certainly made me different, but not fitting the stereotypes has made me unique.

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 02:59 pm: Edit

It's a great essay, so good that I suggest that you stop posting it because I fear that others will steal your idea, and fit their lives into your essay.

Meanwhile, Fla. public universities are very numbers driven, so don't obsess about your essay. It really is fine. In fact, it would be a great essay to use for colleges even more competitive than is UF.

By Celebrian23 (Celebrian23) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 06:57 pm: Edit

Wow! I'm so impressed! It really would be sad if someone stole this TERRIFIC essay