This was the house I grew up in for the first 10 years of my life. This holds a special place in my heart because this was the first place I ever lived and spent all of my elementary school years here. We had a nice backyard with a pool, which was necessary because this was in Phoenix. I can still remember that the layout of the house allowed me to hear when my dad was stirring the chocolate milk he would make me every morning and that’s how I knew when to get up. There are so many positive memories in this house that I know I will always cherish for my entire life.

This building was a major deciding factor when I was deciding where to go to college. I grew up on the west coast in Arizona and then California, so Oklahoma was definitely a far away state for me. Both my parents went to OU and I had family that I would visit in Oklahoma every summer so it wasn’t completely new. However, when I was touring colleges to apply to, I was stuck between the University of Arizona and here. When I toured, I remember the first thing I saw that caught my eye was the library and it just made everything feel like a college campus that was built around this one building. Something about it made the OU campus feel like home and I knew this was where I wanted to spend the next four years of college at.

This collection of buildings was where I went to middle school in San Diego. For me, I remember always making jokes with our friends about how the school buildings looked like a jail because there were so few windows. The windows in the classroom that I do remember were always shut with the shades down, so there was hardly any natural light coming through. My middle school was completely outdoors, meaning the access to each classroom was a door leading to open air. It could be a combination of the memories shared here and the buildings themselves being dark with little windows, but this is definitely a place that is associated with bad memories. My friends still joke about the buildings in this school looking like the students are held captive inside. The picture definitely makes the school look a lot nicer than I remember it being.

This house has been home to me for the last ten years. My parents built it from just a simple lot up to where it is now and my dad is the one that keeps the landscaping so nice. I’ve seen every detail of this house get picked from scratch AND get to experience all the memories in this house. It has had such a positive impact on me because I’ve spent so many of my developmental years here and started a whole different chapter of my life from where I lived before. Overall, I think my favorite part about this house would either be the front door design or the light fixture in my bedroom. Both just look so creative and something that I feel like you don’t see too often in homes.

Located on the corner of Fettery and Olympic Blvd in East Los Angles; the San Francisco Catholic Church isn’t an awe inspiring building, but it does have a place in my heart. I was baptized and did my first communion at this local church. I would arrive early to enjoy a steaming hot tamale filled with silky chile rojo and large chunks of puerco. The aroma of canela and piloncillo would fill the air when they served champurrado.

As a child I spent my weekend learning about and understanding my faith. I would often complain about wanting to stay home and watch Saturday morning cartoons, but in hind sight the values I learned help me to be the humble person I am. To this day I still remember the prayers and hymns I learned in Spanish. Every time I attend mass in english, my mind transports itself to that small church that I grew up in.