By Angie Sánchez
The hardest part about my experience is having to sit in classrooms with students who are ignorant about immigrants, immigration, minorities, etc. We have discussed these issues in many of my classes and the reaction and comments from students are sometimes so offensive that I just want to tell them what I’ve gone through and continue to go through, but I have to stop myself because this is a very sensitive situation for me and I cannot let everyone know about it. Some of these [white] students claim that they “know” what minorities go through and that we should just get over it or try harder. But until these students go through what I have been through as an illegal or any other person of color and in my situation, then they can’t make comments like that.
Being a college student has expanded my world incredibly, but there is one thing that many students can do to expand their world even more. And that is studying abroad. I wish I would have the opportunity to advantage of such program, however, because of my situation that is one more door that is closed for me. I feel so impotent when I read about study abroad programs because I know that no matter how much I would love to go or no matter how much I qualify for the program, I just can’t go!
Final Thoughts
The knowledge that I have gained in the couple years that I have been at the university is worth everything I have gone through. I don’t think it’s fair, but I have an immense amount of appreciation for what I have obtained through my hard work and determination. I hope that my input that I have given in some of my classes have made an impact on people who unfortunately do not know any better about us and our situations.
To be continued…
Part I/Part II/Part III/Part IV/Part V/Part VI/Part VII/Part VIII/Part IX/Part X/Part XI/Part XII/Part XIII
