Founded Family

Family is something that I never knew I would find to be so important until arriving at UCSD. When I was younger, I had what I felt to be a standard, happy, decent family. Then, my father left for a very irresponsible reason. For the past 15 years, I saw my mothers efforts in trying to rebuild the family by replacing someone else in my fathers place. It was never the same though, my mother chose a stranger that only appears when she is not busy. The past can not simply be remade by replacement. Life was always hard, my mother was going through financial issues being a single mom. The split between my parents, and a random person who tried to be a part of my life affected me in different ways. My relationship with my mom was heavily strained until the pandemic when I actually tried to get to know who my mom really was. We talked about her life prior to becoming a mother; her upbringings and everything that made me think about how and why she is the way that she is. I can confidently say that me and my mom are quite close now, she is the only blood-related family that I call family. Usually when I get close with someone, I do not want to leave them since it will mean we will spend less time together. Due to this, choosing schools to transfer to was something that was difficult for me. When I decided to transfer to UCSD, my mother was surprised that I was willing to go away from her for education. We were both in different life stages and paths, I was ready to go farther to see the world. Meanwhile, my mom works hard to spin the hamster wheel as I go out to get my education. I just knew this was the place for me to explore my identity, and how I work as a human being. I decided to live on campus. This is my first time living alone but with 4 other people assigned as my roommates. In the beginning, me and my roommates were in the process of getting to know each other. And now we build legos, watch media, and play video games together along with teaching each other things if there is something that we want to learn more about from each other. We are very communicative about our needs and I enjoy taking them out to places around this city. I have never had this comforting, warm, community that cares about me as an individual. I did not realize what family was and how important it is to me. Back at home, I live in a 2 story house with my mom and my little brother. And most of the time my brother’s not home, so it will just be me and my mom in this big house. Sometimes, my stepdad and mother will go on a trip together, leaving me by myself at the house. I can avoid feeling alone by going out all the time too, but the divorce that happened when I was younger has gotten me used to being alone and in my own space. But now I am never really alone in my university dorm, which was a wild adjustment for me. My perception of family and homelife is different from most of the students that I have interacted with here. Religion and politics are things that people at UCSD care about, and the emphasis on family is very real and wholesome. I had only seen one Christian club back at the community college that I transferred from. Religion and politics were not commonly discussed back when I was at home. I did not know what family was or whatexactly to care about, until I came here and met my roommates. When I came to this school, I thought I was starting over again. After being here for a while, I have realized that I am building on my past, and making new memories that will further contribute to my growth as a student at UCSD