“I kind of identify half and half with each country. I don't really feel like a full person for either country, which is fine”

Story #26, Julie Gomez, Colombian American

Interview conducted & story written by Mia McCarthy, edited by Noor Mchallah

Julie Gomez had no issue moving over two thousand miles for college. While her classmates planned to commute to college from their childhood homes, Gomez got on a plane ready for a new chapter.

But Gomez’ eagerness for change did not come out of nowhere: migrating twice during her childhood sparked an excitement for new opportunities she carries with her today. 

Gomez was born in Colombia but moved with her family to the United States when she was two years old. For the first part of her childhood, America was the only country she said she knew. 

“I was just two years old,” Gomez said. “I had only known the States.” 

But at age 10, Gomez’s migration story would expand: her family made the decision to move back to Colombia. Despite being her birthplace and a place she had visited many times before, she felt a culture shock attending school in a new country. 

“The change from the States back to Colombia kind of hit me hard, because it is [a] different culture with different values and different priorities,” Gomez said. “And I was more Americanized at the time.”

She spent the rest of her middle and high school career in Colombia. She learned to adapt to Colombia’s new culture and language.

Most recently, Gomez completed her third migration: she arrived back in the United States to attend Boston University. Despite spending formative years of her childhood here, she still felt a disconnect from American culture.

“I had grown used to interacting with more Colombians and that's a different culture. That's a very warm culture,” Gomez said. “And here — even though BU is very diverse — at least the majority of people here are American. So they do have that American culture that's kind of different from the Hispanic culture.”

Just as she did when she was 10, Gomez found herself learning to adapt to an old home filled with a decade of new references and pop culture she missed before.

“I hadn't really socialized with other American kids since I was 10,” Gomez said. “I would visit my family and stuff, but I was never in that high school environment with all my friends.”

In some regards, she said she felt stuck in the middle of two cultures: there were things about Colombia she did not know and things about America she did not know. 

“I kind of identify half and half with each country. I don't really feel like a full person for either country, which is fine,” Gomez said. “But it's always been a challenge.”

Hints of Gomez’s triple migration still come up today. She finds things she missed from either culture, like American football to pop culture references.

“Things like the history of the States, I don't really know that much, or the history of Colombia, I don't really know that much,” Gomez said. “Because those things you're normally taught at specific ages, and exactly during those ages, I was in the other country.”

“While some people regard their migration story as a piece of their life, Gomez believes it helped shape the woman she is today.”

Gomez said she knew she wanted to come back to the United States to study medicine and hopes to stay here. While she is content now staying in America, she said she is happy she lived in Colombia for so long.

“I am so happy that I was able to go back to Colombia and live my teenage years there because I have that Hispanic side to me and I feel like if I had stayed in the States, since I was two years old, I probably wouldn't be as connected,” Gomez said. “I wouldn't know the language as well, I wouldn't know my family as well. And just the culture.”

Despite its challenges, Gomez said she would not change her triple migration. While some people regard their migration story as a piece of their life, Gomez believes it helped shape the woman she is today.

“I think moving around a lot since I was small, made me understand change and kind of embrace it,” Gomez said. “So I'm not very scared of new opportunities.”

This eagerness for new opportunities brought her to new places such as Boston University and the Echo clinic for Albert Einstein School of Medicine, where she is a translator. She hopes to one day use her bilingual and bicultural skills in the world of medicine. 

This summer, she will be on a mission trip to Neva, Colombia with Healing the Children, an organization that sends surgeons to small towns to do pro-bono procedures on children.

“I hope to be able to incorporate my Latinx side in order to connect with patients and become a better physician than I ever could have imagined,” Gomez said.