It’s been a hot minute since I wrote anything. Life sometimes takes over and it’s been feeling  like the days just mesh together. Holiday season can be fun but also super stressful!

Anyways, I wanted to tell you my story. I feel like most of you know me or know of me but don’t know where I come from, my background etc.

Let’s start with my parents, my mother (Jessica) is from Lima, Peru and my Father (Angel) from Spain. My dad and his parents moved to Belgium when he was a baby so he pretty much grew up in Belgium while still visiting his family is Spain often. When my mother was about 20-21 she went to study abroad in Belgium. She has always been very adventurous, she loves learning about other cultures, languages and the history of other places. At a young age my parents met by a mutual friend out at a nightclub,  normal relationship stuff happened and they had me at 23. I am the first born.

I very vividly remember growing up in Belgium, going to school and taking the underground metro every morning with my mom or dad. In case you guys don’t know, people in Europe walk everywhere or have other forms of transportation and don’t use cars often, that may be different now but that’s how it was back then. My brother (Michel) was born in 94, he was the greatest gift a little girl could get because he was my very own living doll. Michel and I would go to camps together for the summer and do outdoor nature trips, normal kid stuff. I was very very close with my grandmother (Dad’s mom) and I would often spend my summers with her in a little amazing place in Spain called Candas (Look it up!) those were the best times I ever had. Life was so simple and so fun. Fast forward a couple years and my family decides it’s time to move to the U.S.A. My grandfather (Juan Jose – Mom’s Dad) gave us a call and pretty much said to all of his kids (4 of them: Juan, Jose, Javier, Jessica) time to get down here and find opportunity. My grandfather is the most hard working, selfless, genuine, kind, loving person I know. Because of him we have had endless of opportunities and the ability to live in the U.S. So in year 2000 we made the move. A little Belgian girl and boy with their parents and no knowledge of the culture or language of the U.S. moved and started school.

I recall how different I looked, how I always wore dresses and my hair was perfectly done, I remember how my style was so different from the American school girls (much more laid back). I remember how scared I was because I couldn’t communicate with anyone, I couldn’t speak English since my first language was French and second was Spanish. Eventually I started making friends even with the language barrier, I started getting acclimated to being here and living this new life. I am thankful for my teachers and ESOL for helping me and teaching me English. No one would ever know that I wasn’t born here because of them. My brother and I grew up and pretty much became two normal American kids, well just a little different because of our culture.

I truly think that my experience, my family’s experience moving from one country to the other made us so much stronger. It personally made me so much more sensitive to others. It taught me to be kind and be friends with everyone, it taught me that that dreams and opportunities are attainable, that when you do things the right way and take the right steps anything is possible. It take so much strength in every way to move, the things my family did, my grandfather, my parents did, was all for us. It’s to have a better life, to do the impossible and to live out our dreams. Its so important to be cultured and not discriminate and always help others. Just because someone is different than you doesn’t make them less of a person, you don’t know what they went through to be here today, you don’t know them so get to know them. Everyone deserves a chance to follow their dreams and go wherever they want in life.

I hope this post taught you something new, made you feel like you can relate to me more. Many people know me but not my story. As always, I appreciate the people who take the time to read my posts.
Until next time my friends.

Dream Big,
Vanessa Navarro