“Hi, I’m from …” was how we were supposed to introduce ourselves on the first day of school. As each student told the rest of the class where they had lived before, I was amazed to hear that almost everyone had come from a different part of the world. And now, as we have all become great friends—as close as family—I feel that I can say that they help define my world.
Balboa Academy in Panama City, Panama, is more than just your average school: it’s a crossroad for people from many different places, and of all sorts of backgrounds. I have friends from Peru, Jamaica, Colombia, Canada, France, Chile, Spain, Ecuador, Taiwan, India, and the list goes on. Meeting these people, my friends, has opened my eyes to the rest of the world. They are the link that connects me to different cultures and languages. It is through them that my world has expanded.
Never before have I felt that I could offer more than just my own heritage. Now, I have knowledge of so many other worlds. From my friends’ stories, I have acquired a grasp of many cultures and traditions. And compared to when I was growing up in Torrance, California, I have a new perspective on life, one of open-mindedness. Because of my experiences living in Panama, my world has expanded far beyond what I thought possible.
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