My Dinner Experiences

One time that I can remember being at a dinner that was different than my own culture, was when I was having dinner at my best friend's house. My friend is persian and we were having dinner with her grandparents. My friend does not speak Farsi, but her mom and grandparents do. Her grandparents and her mom would speak to each other in Farsi and my friend and I would not know what they were saying, so we felt out of the conversation. They would be able to tell, so they would begin to speak half English half Farsi. I actually really liked going over to her grandparent's house and seeing a different culture than what I am used to, and to have new experiences and learn new things every time. I continue to go to her grandparent's house and greet me with a big hello.

My Name

For this week’s blog post I am going to be talking about my name. Why are names such a big deal? I remember when my little sister was born there was a vote on what my parents should name her. You didn’t get to choose your name, so why should your name define who you are or impact what you can do? My name is Bren. It is not very common and I do not hear it often. My mom and dad argue on how I got named Bren. My dad says it was named after his friend who he promised he would name one of his daughters after her, but my mom said she met a flight attendant with the name Bren, and loved it. I used to be really embarrassed about my name because it was not like a name that you hear everyday, like maddy or lily. I would be so embarrassed when I would say my name and people would say, “Brett? Brianna?” I would be so embarrassed that I would take it to the point when I was younger of when I was at Starbucks lying and saying my name was Samantha. I was embarrassed of my name and that no one else was like me, but now I embrace it. I think that Gogol feels the same way as me, he is embarrassed because his name is unique and not like everyone else, but being different is good.  

My Background

For this week's blog post I am going to talk a little bit about my background. I was born in the United States and so was my parents, but even though I am not a first-generation American, I feel more at home when I am in Italy. On my mom's side of the family I am Italian and Cherokee Indian. I always grew up eating pasta and traditional Italian dishes. When my grandpa describes Italy or I hear the language I fall in love with it and feel more at home. My mom always tells me that I look Italian and that I am the same height as my great-grandma, 4'11", who was full Italian. Last summer I visited Italy, and I felt at home. The people who lived there were speaking Italian to me and were so nice. Even though, I am Irish on my dad's side, I almost feel more Italian than anything else. I cherish my background and always look back and discover more about where I came from. Ciao!