When I first went to Canada, I was excited to be experiencing a place that was completely different from Puerto Rico. I wanted to explore Vancouver, meet new people, and experience a culture that wasn’t my own. What I didn’t expect was that being away from Puerto Rico would make me realize how big a role it plays in my everyday life.
Vancouver is an incredibly multicultural city. Most of my close friends are Asian, and I actually found a special connection with the Filipino community. Even though Filipino culture is different from Puerto Rican culture, certain things felt familiar to me: the importance of family, the way food brings people together, and the pride people have in where they come from. Being around Filipinos reminded me that you can find pieces of your own culture in places you may not always expect.
There was also a large Latino community in Vancouver, especially people from Mexico, Colombia, and other countries. I was able to speak Spanish, meet other Latinos, and find Latin American food. But even when I was able to do all of that, I was still missing something. It wasn’t the same; it felt unfamiliar. The community around me didn’t feel like the people I was used to. I missed being called Boricua amongst my community. I missed the food from back home. I missed hearing Spanish the way I’m used to hearing it, and our expressions and daily jokes. These were things I rarely thought about when I was in Puerto Rico, because they were simply part of my everyday life. In Canada, I suddenly noticed the weight of their absence.
However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy my time there. I loved exploring Vancouver, and I made memories that I will always carry with me. But I realized that being surrounded by people who share part of your identity isn’t necessarily the same as being surrounded by your own culture.
This is one of the reasons the new Puerto Rican film Extranjera, directed by Michelle Malley Campos, made me think about my own experience. The movie follows Epa, a Puerto Rican artist who travels to Taiwan after a family scandal involving her father, in which she finds herself far away from the environment she knows. Her story explores family, identity, and what it means to belong when you’re somewhere unfamiliar.
My experience was obviously very different from Epa’s, but I understood the feeling of being far from the place that shaped you. Being in Canada made me appreciate things about Puerto Rico that I had never really stopped and noticed before.
It also taught me that home isn’t always about being surrounded by people exactly like you. Some of my closest friends in Vancouver came from cultures completely different from mine, and my connection with the Filipino community showed me how much we can relate to people even when our ethnic backgrounds aren’t the same. At the same time, those connections made me appreciate my own culture even more.
I left Puerto Rico thinking I was going to Canada to discover something new. Instead, I also discovered something about myself; I can connect with different cultures while still carrying Puerto Rico with me.
Maybe being an “extranjera” isn’t always about feeling like you don’t belong. Sometimes, it’s about being somewhere new and realizing just how much of home you carry wherever you go.