I was born and raised in New York City, and at 18 I left for the rural setting of Hanover, New Hampshire for Dartmouth College. My friends and even my extended family in Argentina expressed surprise at my decision to leave home for college. In Argentina, it is customary to live with your parents through out university. However, from this oral history project, it has become clear to me that leaving ones comfort zone in search of new experiences is a family tradition. We are a family of migrants. On both sides of my family, different generations have left behind the life they knew for a foreign country, a foreign continent. Families have patterns. This is ours.

Both my parents migrated from Argentina to the United States. They met in New York. I did not interview my mother for this project, but she also has a very interesting and dynamic migration story. She traveled from Argentina to the United States after studying Architecture in Argentina. She worked as an architect in the United States and also in Japan before settling down in New York with my father. My mother, like my father, also pursued a graduate degree in the United States. She studied International Relations at Columbia University. As the daughter of two migrants, I have been instilled with an appreciation of different cultures, ways of life, and ideas.

I left my comfort zone for college, but I can not compare my experience with transition to the experience my parents and my grandparents had in their migration. I am impressed and proud of their ability to bravely explore and succeed in a new world. They inspire me to travel off the beaten path and to be open to new experiences.

I hope that in this project I have done justice to my father in his portrayal. He is an incredible person. He is brilliant, selfless, strong, and brave. He is always thinking of his family. I respect him; I admire him; and I consider him my best friend. It was a pleasure for me to learn more about him through this project. My appreciation for my father only grew.