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    This Is What It's Like To Grow Up As A Minority In A Small Town

    "Actually, I'm not a foreign exchange student."

    1. Because your first/middle/last name was unique, people always found new and exciting ways to butcher it.

    2. You had to constantly deal with people asking you to speak your "native language" even if it was English.

    3. You were often mistaken for another person who was the same ethnicity.

    4. You heard people around you make jokes about minorities because they'd often forget you were one.

    5. You also heard people make comments about "foreigners" before quickly apologizing and saying "Oh, but not you, though."

    6. Everyone knew who you were and knew who your family was almost immediately because there were only a few other minority families in town.

    7. You could never borrow makeup from your friends because it wasn't the right shade for your skin tone.

    8. You found the school lunches of "fajitas" or "Sweet and Sour chicken" to be low-key offensive because they were definitely not authentic.

    9. Your hometown had approximately eight pizza places and four fast-food joints compared to the *one* restaurant that served ethnic food.

    10. People looked at you during class when you were learning about specific events in history.

    11. And then a teacher or fellow classmate would ask you about your feelings and opinions on it.

    12. Everyone made jokes about how you were "white on the inside" because all of your friends were white.

    13. People would also make comments about how you didn't act like you were "fill-in-the-blank ethnicity" enough.

    14. Your friends could never relate to your dating struggles, like whether people liked you for you or for your skin color.

    15. People would ask you if you were siblings/cousins/any way related to the other minority people in town.

    16. You might have also been mistaken for a foreign exchange student even though you had been in the same school district your WHOLE LIFE.

    17. People would ask you questions that went with outdated stereotypes – like if you were good at math or great at sports.

    18. And finally, even though there were constant struggles that came along with being different from other people in your hometown, you still were able to embrace everything that makes you who you are.