my name is julia…
When I was younger I didn’t realize I was different from the other children. I always knew I was adopted; however, I never thought that would matter to other people. To me it was just another fact about myself as simple as my favorite color. Now that I am about to turn 19, I find that my Chinese adoptee identity is always in the back of my mind when I think about my actions and the actions of others. While I am proud to be different, I always wonder if someone’s assumptions about me stem from my race or familial situation. I wonder if I am good at math because I work hard or because it is somehow encoded into my DNA, and if other people think these things about me, too. Growing up as an adoptive Chinese girl has motivated me to create my own identity in a way that paints me as who I want to be rather than who society thinks I should be.
Right now I am a college freshman. Though the school year has just begun, I already feel like I have experienced a lot. I’ve thought about studying computer science and psychology; however, I am currently planning on majoring in the Environmental Science program. I flew to campus in early August only to be quarantined two days into my college experience for two weeks because a student had exposed our entire hall to Covid-19. After I finally made it through quarantine, the other two freshman halls were quarantined for two weeks. This created a significant divide between my dorm and the others because they had already had two weeks to socialize and get to know each other. Then, when we were all out of quarantine and everything seemed to be looking up, we students received an email stating that we were being sent back to our homes. Now I am living at my home in Minnesota and am attending college completely online. A typical day consists of me in my room for about 8 hours a day attending lectures and doing homework but at least my mom can buy my snacks!
Here are some of my favorites…
the colors red and blue and green, pineapple, reading, creative writing, sketching, listening to music, bright red leaves, vivid dreams, movies, Avatar the Last Airbender, learning about other people, animals, math, travel, powdery snow that sparkles at night.
I think one of my favorite activities these days is listening to music. I really like creative forms of expression and music is a great way to find artists who you can relate to while also discovering songs that can put feelings into a pleasing melody. I try to listen to new music every week and then bookmark songs that I connect with so I can look back on them later. Some of my favorite songs right now are: Cinema Love by Patrick Martin, You by Nate Traveller, and Running Thru 3AM by Aeris Roves. Some of my favorite artists are: Troye Sivan, Post Malone, and Glass Animals.