Written by: Taylor George | Spring 2023
ISEP Exchange in Southern Spain – Universidad de Almeria
With “identity,” I wear many different hats. My
parents’ place of birth are the islands of Jamaica and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. I am cared for, encouraged, and loved by my family as a daughter, granddaughter, niece, and cousin. I have visited my parents’ birth places, and I’m introduced to cultures that I hold dear to my heart.
I have lived in three different states. I was born in Jacksonville, Florida and grew up in Tampa, Florida. My home base is now Memphis, Tennessee. I am a friend, mentor, co-worker for many in my home states. As a student, I live in Indianapolis, Indiana. At Butler, I’m many things. I’m a bible study leader, discipler, student, and intern. On top of that, since I was adopted, my identity has always been a struggle for me sense I always felt like I didn’t fit into just one.
I wonder about what will change as I study abroad. I will be
in a new country, and not around the familiar. I have previously traveled to another part of Spain, so I’m curious to learn about Almeria, Spain. One thing I know won’t change, is my identity as someone who values self-improvement. I’ll continue to grow and work to achieve my personal and professional goals. I will likely gain a new identity as a “study abroad” student, and I will have learned how to relate with others who have different identities, learning from them by creating deep and rich relationships.
Fast forward to me landing in Almeria, Spain. Almeria is a very interesting city, because not only does it border the coast line, but it also is next to other popular cities, such as Granada, Malaga, Murcia, and those other little cities in between. Regarding culture and identity, to me, my world flipped practically upside down. There’s a lot of things that surprised me because of my assumptions early on.
For example, I know that Spain in general is a 
homogenous country, so I wasn’t really expecting anything new from Almeria, since it is not a big city like Madrid or Barcelona. I was shocked to find out through operating in daily life and practically becoming like one of the locals that a lot of people here have immigrated from South America and Africa.
Also, my interactions with other people, the same race as me, have been eye-opening in regards to how our identities are different, even though we are the same race. For example, I made a friend at church, and she was a black woman. She spoke little to no English, but she offered to invite me to her house. I practically knowing no one, obliged happily, and she took me over to her house to have a meal and talk a little until the afternoon. She talked about the things that she loved, and where she’s from, Columbia. It was so interesting to hear her story, and how she of all people would come to Almería. It seems like with all the people I’ve talked to whether they are local or have for some reason or another end up here. It seems like people don’t choose Almeria, but Almeria chooses them.
The final part of identity in Spain is taking
into account that I am an international student. This has been the first time that I’ve met so many different people and every person is diverse. It’s one thing to be part of a small group that is diverse on your college campus, it’s another thing to be part of hundreds of students that are extremely diverse. Being in the group this big, where diversity is common instead of uncommon, really makes me question a lot of things. I, myself, am a diversity leader at Butler and a Morton Finney scholar. Obviously because of that, my main goal is to make Butler‘s campus a more diverse place. Now I’m in a place that has accomplished that goal that I’m striving for in my college in the US. And as I’ve had time to think about it, not a lot of things are different really. Of course, you have different points of view on things as well as different experiences in different cultures that you can learn from or talk about, but I think it’s much more interesting to talk about everything we have in common instead of everything that is different about us. I don’t know, it’s just some food for thought, but I think it’s good to think about these things. You know, university in Spain is so different because they don’t have a lot of homework unlike the US so I’ve had some more time to think about these bigger questions which has really blessed me in a way.