I am OFTEN mistaken as an "international student".
BECAUSE I AM ASIAN and i go to uni in MELBOURNE?!?!?!?!

i was SO offended! is it a racist comment?!
just because i am asian lookin', it is assumed that i am NOT a local?? that i was not BORN here in "white" Australia?? that i had actually only ever gone overseas ONCE in my entire life??

i was offended because i thought it was a prejudiced racist comment.

THEN i was offended even more so that i was ever even grouped with international students!
they are CLEARLY odd and different lookin'...they had a funny-and-hard-to-understand accent with their cool honky fashion sense, funky hair and
white beautiful skin.
i would have thought that my aussie laid back slang accent and hoodie cas-wear made me look TOTALLY "aussie".
I was never good at being much of an asian in the first place! or so i thought...

i then realized that i was a judgmental prejudiced racist also.
Why was i offended in being grouped with internationals?
What did i have against them?
nothing!
Is it because i am trying so hard to belong in a white society that i neglect my asian-ness and even loathed my cultural origins? that i was embarrassed of the yellow skinned ching-chong culture?!
(although i don't have a chinese background, my background is actually Vietnamese)
is this... identity crisis?!

i had noticed, among my aussie born slash asian background peers that this attitude was not uncommon.
We second generations appear to want to forget about our "embarrassing backgrounds",
embrace the cultures of the west and deny our old fashioned parentals...

It is to the point that it is troublesome for us all.
I mean, i can't even speak my "native" language well.
(though sometimes i don't even speak English well haaaahaaa)

ahh, i should embrace the best of both cultures,
and all the others that i might come across.
Because Australia IS a multicultural country.
there shouldn't REALLY be distinct cultures anymore.
Because we've incorporated a bit of everything in our lives now.
We're all inter-cultured.
I am not JUST asian, i am not just AUSTRALIAN BORN either.
I am ME , born in Melbourne, with parents who came from differing parts of Vietnam, who grew up with hispanic/anglo saxon friends,who has asians as closest friends, who talks english better than her family's language..... who likes to draw, and watch disney movies........


So after my reflection... i feel that i am not so offended anymore.

Assuming ANYTHING about a person is prejudiced.

we all need to learn.