A Summer Trip

NEW BRUNSWICK N.J., March 3 - Coming from a mixed background, I had always found it it difficult to relate to one ethnicity entirely. My dad hailed from Maine with an Italian and Dutch background while my mother was a native of Indonesia. Although I was born in Indonesia I had only spent a brief period there and spent most of my childhood in Maine. Growing up in Maine, I found it especially hard to stay connected with the Indonesian part of my identity. But at 16 I was ready to rediscover the culture I had longed to be a part of. And at 16 I was able to convince my mother to let me travel alone and spend the summer in Indonesia to visit my relatives. This of course, required me to travel 10,000 miles by myself and spend over 36 hours in three different countries. When I finally reached Indonesian soil, I was on the brink of exhaustion but I had finally arrived to the welcoming arms of my uncles, aunts and cousins. As delirious as I was, I can remember the expressive faces of my relatives as they saw me climbing down the escalator. I strolled down the walkway, luggage at hand, and a gush of anxiousness overwhelmed me. It had been two years since I had seen last seen them. But when my aunt greeted me I felt my flushed cheeks brush up into a smile, things were just as I remembered them and I felt at home.