Growing up, I had never had much experience with different cultures. My family, comprised of my mom, dad, and two older brothers, never traveled out of the country, and most of our vacations only took us as far as the beaches in Florida. However, things began to change as I entered the eighth grade.
A few years prior, my parents had announced a big change happening within our family—they were adopting a young girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Africa. I was finally going to have a sister.