A Time When I had to Interact With a Culture Different From My Own...

Before I moved to Chicago, I can honestly say that I have never been so surrounded and flooded with so many people of different cultures, but I feel so privileged to be able to now. I've grown up in both San Diego, California and Barrington, Illinois. With San Diego being the eighth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean, you may think it has a variety of diversity. Let alone, it does, but from the particular neighborhood in which I was from had over a 60% white population. And as for Barrington, which is a part of the greater metropolitan area of Chicago, has the seventh wealthiest zip code in the country and has roughly a 96% white population. Aside from race and ethnicity, I've always been surrounded by these hard-working, upper-class people who could always afford just about anything. It's like I've been living in a bubble my entire life. But have the opportunity to live in Chicago and enjoy this wonderful college experience has been a real eye-opener. I have been exposed to so many different people- whether it be of their culture, race, or just their lifestyle. I've learn to realize that not everyone was raised in the same fantasy-like and stuck-up, conceited world full of money and morals that I was. I'm happy to have met so many awesome people in the city, regardless of everything.