Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A new name, a new culture

Hello! My name is Julia. I am a Mathematics major at Brigham Young University. One of my favorite things to do is play the piano. I have also enjoyed learning to play the organ here at BYU. I am a runner! I have now run 3 marathons and qualified twice for the Boston Marathon. I am from the Seattle area. I grew up with four sisters, and as of last week, I have a nephew!

I am starting this blog because I am enrolled in IHum 260: Humanities of Latin America. Let me tell you about the recent events in my life that led me to be enrolled in this class. When I went home to Washington from school last summer, I met up with Evie Mejia. We started running together and dating, and before too long we were engaged.


The 4th of July with Evie and my sisters




Evie's parents are from Mexico, and he was raised speaking Spanish. Throughout the summer, we were at his parents' house quite a bit. I loved spending time with his family. I wanted to learn Spanish, both so I could better communicate with his family, and so that we could pass that heritage on to our children as much as possible. Last Semester, I enrolled in Spanish 105, and I loved it. Not only did I love learning the Spanish language, but also about Mexican and other Latin American cultures. Evie served a mission in Chile, and his sister Yuri is now serving in Honduras. I like hearing them talk about their experiences in these places. 

At a Mexican seafood restaurant with Evie's family

I am grateful for the exposure I have already gotten to a different culture through dating and marrying Evie. Evie and I were raised very differently, but we also have so many similarities and common interests. One of these is our love of running! We trained all summer for the Top of Utah marathon, and we reached that goal together back in September.

  

I have now happily been Julia Lynn Mejia for 3 weeks. I love that learning about other cultures allows us to see the world through a different point of view, while also finding common connections. I am so excited to take this class and continue learning about Latin America!

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