Morphing into a rainbow of people and cultures

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June 28, 2022

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Morphing into a rainbow of people and cultures

By Jianing Zhou | 00:05 UTC+8 June 28, 2022 |

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Seven years ago, I stepped into a place I now call my second home, with people I now call my own — Shanghai American School. Despite its name only mentioning two countries, I have met and befriended people parading dozens of shapes, sizes, ethnicities and beliefs, all of whom have become a small part of me.

When I first landed in this foreign land, I was still tanned from four years on the beach of Ipanema, and I bore a head of long, silky hair, draping like silky tassels down to my hips.

But as my bronze coat began to wear off, a new identity sought its way into me. I was no longer just a Chinese girl tinted by the salty, boisterous air of Brazil — I allowed myself to be soaked in all sorts of colorful cultures, from friends with ethnicities ranging from India to Belgium. I morphed day by day, into patches of shades of white, brown, yellow, orange, pink, each representing the personalities, cultures, ideas, that I was exposed to, and the way people’s words and actions made me feel.

Now, as the classrooms seem to grow smaller, and the people around me grow bigger, I find myself fulfilling larger community roles such as taking part in the student council, honor societies, and pursuing new hobbies like track and field that I never would have thought to attempt seven years ago when this was just a new school. Today, I proudly call it my school, with people who share my interests and accept me for who I am.

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Morphing into a rainbow of people and cultures

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