The TikToker Ainara Quesada shared a reflection on social media about her experience of having two nationalities. Ainara, whose mother is Spanish and father is Cuban, has opened up to her followers about what it means to belong to two different cultures and how this has influenced her identity.
"I have a graduation, and while I'm sharing it with you, I'm going to tell you what it feels like to have two different nationalities," Ainara begins in her video. The young woman explains that she has always felt that she doesn't fully belong anywhere, a common feeling among those who grow up in a bicultural environment. "The truth is, you never feel like you're from anywhere, you're never quite enough from either place," she stated.
Ainara also describes the challenges she has faced in identifying as Basque in Spain and as Cuban in Cuba. "When I interact here and I say I'm Basque, I always have to prove how Basque I am, as if it were a test, you know? And when I go to Cuba and tell them that my father is Cuban and that I feel a special connection to Cuba, they often laugh at you, as if to say that if you’ve never been there, you can't be considered Cuban," she says.
Her connection to Cuba deepened last year when, after 12 years without visiting the island, Ainara returned and experienced a sense of belonging she had never felt before. "And the connection I felt had never happened to me in my life; for the first time, I felt like I belonged somewhere," she confesses.
"But I will always be a good tourist, even though everyone back home already knew that the girl turned out to be more Latina than anything else," she added with a laugh.
"If you ask me where I feel I belong, I will always say that I am Basque because this is where I was raised, where I was born, and where my other family is from, and I love it. However, since I returned to Cuba, I’ve felt that there is a part of my heart there," she noted in remarks that have resonated online, concluding by expressing gratitude to her parents for giving her "the privilege and joy of belonging to two different places."
Ainara has also shared the romantic love story of her parents, who are currently separated, and met in Cuba in 1995 when her Spanish mother traveled to the island for vacation.
In addition to sharing her personal story, Ainara has won over her followers with videos of her dancing with her Cuban grandmother.
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