Over the course of Black History Month, I attended several events hosted by Temple Rome and John Cabot University (JCU). The one at JCU was an event with students called, “Living in the diaspora,” another was with makeup artist Renata Di Leone, and another was a poet who now lives in the UK, Tevin Muendo.
Attending the second “Living in Diaspora” event was an amazing experience at John Cabot University that I am so glad I was a part of. I did not speak about my experiences because I was really focused on listening to the stories of others and what they have experienced throughout the unique journey of their lives. They shared the importance of language, culture, and emphasizing that the choices we make in our lives are unique to our journey. There is no right or wrong way to go about where we want to end up in the future, especially after this experience abroad. Some shared how they felt strongly about wanting to go home to their native country and start their life and career there, others felt it was important to stay abroad and carry their culture with them wherever they go.
Other BHM events:
My favorite part of the night:
I really like when someone said, “I never really fit in anywhere so I can fit in everywhere” because it resonated with me the most. I am an Asian American, born in China but was adopted at one year old into a White Jewish family. I have technically always lived in a diaspora, through the dictionary definitions of “the dispersion or spread of a people from their original homeland” and “the dispersion of the Jewish people beyond Israel.” My environment growing up has made it easier for me to adapt to anywhere and I love that I can feel comfortable being myself in new and different settings. When you have no set place to call home, or nowhere that fully feels like home, everywhere you go makes up who you are and becomes part of your home. Even when you go back to your roots and the place you do call home, you still carry all the experiences you had with you and parts of you that have been engulfed into different cultures, mindsets, and ways of living. A student also mentioned, “I like creating a home for myself everywhere I go and bringing my culture into those spaces, to be present in a place where it’s shocking and to normalize that.”
Through the conversation I also realized how language is the most important thing to attach yourself with and to immerse yourself into a culture. I am really glad that while abroad, Temple requires its students to take a semester of the language because it allows us all to become more a part of the environment. I have some fear and shame in going back to the province I was born in, JiangXi, China because I know that I cannot speak the native language. Even though my physical appearance looks Chinese, not being able to communicate with others who look like me sometimes makes me feel like a fraud within my own identity. It is something that I will definitely want to overcome in my lifetime to visit China and visit where I was born without fearing that judgment. At the end of the day, all we can do is try our best to communicate with each other, like what I am currently doing in Rome, learning Italian and being respectful along that journey. While learning Italian, it also makes my experience abroad extra meaningful to me when I talk with Italians on a night out or even when I make some friends here.
I hope everyone could have the chance to study abroad and gain these experiences of a lifetime, learn more about Temple Rome here!