My parents immigrated from Eastern Europe, so I have experience with the language, food, culture, and some of the interesting history of that area. My family also loves having friends from all over the world. Their closest friends come from places like India, Ethiopia, Greece, China, Taiwan, Turkey, Korea, Romania, France, Serbia, and, of course, the US. They are Duolingo fans (studying 3 languages at a time!)  and appreciate International movies. So, some of this has rubbed off on me. I love traditional Romanian dishes such as gogosi (Romanian fried dough) and mititei (spiced skinless sausages), and feel safe surrounded by our family's friends. I am comfortable with travel.

I've traveled to Romania, Canada, Belgium, Italy, France, and the UK, and I cherish every experience - from seeing the ruins of Pompeii to exploring the beauty of Paris, and to riding double-decker buses in London. I dream of going to Greece or even farther, to Asia, Africa, and Australia. Until then, I'm striving to stay informed. I learned during the pandemic some ways to travel with my mind.

We visit the same neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, every year, and I've made local friends, some of whom are native Hawaiian or Samoan. One goes to the prestigious Kamehameha school. We've known each other for more than 10 years now. I've even met some of their relatives from French-speaking Tahiti. As I grew up, I also started to understand more of the history of the Polynesian people. For one of my middle-school projects - asking us to imagine a country-island -  I named my island Ahola (a play on the Hawaiian Aloha) to honor my friends.