Up to this day, I still cannot give a precise answer to one of the simplest questions that I am so often asked, "Where are you from?". Born and raised in the beautiful state of California, I was brought up in an Asian home with Korean parents, yet still normally embracing the culture of Americans. At that time, I was still naively unaware of the differences between my non-korean friends and I until the day I landed on a plane in a foreign land on the other side of the world, China. Being thrown this hard but life-changing opportunity, I decided to embrace it and become a part of another world that I have been offered to. Seven years later, after basically sucking the Chinese culture into my world, my parents decided to send me to an international school in Korea. Even though I was brought up in a Korea home, I have never lived in the land of my ancestors so it was still a foreign piece of land to me, but I was ready. Here I am today with all of these diverse cultures that help define who I am.
So when people ask me where I’m from, what do I have to say? Should I just tell them my whole story and let them figure it out themselves? Living in the diverse cultures that I have faced, it is impossible for me to choose which one I can call “mine” because they are all now a part of me and always will be. Through experiencing these different cultures, not only have I learnt so much, but it has also shaped my life. The places I travel to aren’t foreign to me because at one point in my life, it has already been my home. So when people ask me where I’m from, I know I’ll never be able to give a definite answer but it’s a part of me which I’ll always be proud of. Who am I? Well, I'm just an average teenage guy with a pretty crazy background.