Born Where You Belong
The Texas Story Project.
Nadia Salazar is a young girl from San Antonio. She studies at St. Mary’s University majoring in Finance. She decided to stay in San Antonio because of her love to the city and her family. She has lived her whole life in San Antonio, and she could not love it more. Both sides of her family moved to Texas to start their families.
The parents of Nadia’s mother moved from Nueva Rosita, Mexico, when her mother was in kindergarten. Her father’s family moved to San Antonio before he was born. Nadia’s whole life has been an adventure. Although, she has lived her whole life here she jumped between two elementary schools, two middle schools and eventually one high school. This is because her mother loves to move a lot to get to know more of the city.
Nadia moved for a year to McAllen to go live with her father. This is because her parents are divorced. This has been a situation of her whole life. Her parents got divorced when she was two years old. Nadia has never felt affected because of it. On the contrary, Nadia has always been the middle ground of the relationship. She helps to create communication and good connection between her parents. They get along although they are not married to each other anymore. This role forced Nadia to mature at a young age to take care of her sister.
But she was never alone. She always had help of her grandmother, Maria Victoria Mellado de San Miguel. Nadia considers her as her guide who gives her much advice. They love each other immensely. Her grandmother helped to take care of her and her sister. Every time Nadia needs comfort, she goes to her grandmother’s house. Nadia, every time she feels down or sick, she always goes to her. Latina grandmothers are caregivers and have the maternal instinct which always makes you feel better.
Nadia’s love for the city comes from the reason that San Antonio has the perfect mix of diverse cultures. San Antonio provides a place to get to know and explore new cultures. As someone who has lived here her whole life, she has never felt like an outsider and she always feels as a part of the society. As Nadia said “the city has a small town feel but it is a big city at the same time. She likes that it has a downtown as a big city but also it is composed of multiple suburbs which give the city a feeling of home. San Antonio offers the Fiesta San Antonio festival which Nadia is very fond of, and she loves. Fiesta San Antonio is an annual festival held in April in San Antonio, Texas, and is the city's signature event since the late 19th century. The festival began as a single event to honor the memory of the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto.
Nadia wants to travel and get to know different places, but at the end she wants to settle in San Antonio. This is because both the city and she fit in perfectly. Nadia is the perfect example of what San Antonio portrays. She is a perfect mix of different cultures.
Fernando Torres is a freshman at St. Mary’s University studying mechanical engineering.
Posted April 11, 2019
TAGGED WITH: St. Mary's University, stmarytx.edu
