"This is as far as I can go but I'm always with you" is what my mom said to me one cold
morning as she walked with me to the Tijuana-San Diego border. Those words resonated in my
mind, in my being, and stayed in my heart. I hugged her and said goodbye. I walked to the
border to cross into San Diego to go to school, it was my first day of classes.
One day four years ago a person close to my family offered me her support so that I could start
a new chapter of my life studying in the United States, she has been my guide and continues to
give me advice and has supported me unconditionally. I remember that I accepted with
enthusiasm and a bit of sadness because I knew what it would mean to go to another country to
make my life, I knew that geographical divisions were going to separate us physically for a
moment but that was not going to separate us emotionally because as my mother said, they
are always with me. I took the opportunity and that's when the adventure began.
It has been a long way with a lot of obstacles, I have faced cultural, social, and economic
adversities. Coming without speaking English made the whole process more challenging from
the beginning, was three times harder for me to keep up with my classes and meet new people.
A few days later after coming to the USA, school-related expenses started to become a concern,
but soon after that, I found a way to get a job that I still have to this day. With this job, I was
able to get money for my first very old car and everything started to feel less difficult. I started
practicing English with my friends and my grades went up, everything got better. After adversity
comes calm and that calm felt twice as good after the tempest.
This picture taken at the Tijuana-San Diego border represents that moment when I said
goodbye to venture into an opportunity that would lead me to the academic success that I'm
fighting for right now at one of the most important schools in the American continent (UCSD).
Hard work, being focused on school, job and not losing hope are virtues that I learned at home.
The phrase of the Spanish poet Antonio Machado "Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino
al andar" (Walker, there is no path. The path is made by walking) defines me completely, that
quote I feel as if it had been written for me because it represents struggle, represents resilience,
represents perseverance, represents that we must work hard and make our way. I like to think
that on the stairs to success you don't walk alone, you walk with help, with the advice and
experience that other people give you along the way.
Despite the complications of life and the particular situations that we immigrant students live
in; we must always continue to prioritize our dreams because everything is possible.
With love to my family: my sister, my brother, my mom, and special thanks to Itza for all the support
