Be Proud of Who You Are.

After embarrassing myself last week by speaking hebrew, my professor has since been calling me by my real name - RaCHel, you know - the hebrew way.
Now, all three of teachers now call me different names... I have the hebrew way, the english way, and well... the spanish way - Raquel.

Today, in my first class, where I am called RaCHel, I answered a question that my professor asked.
I got the answer right (thank Gd!) and he continued on with his teaching. He then suddenly stopped the class, looked at me and said "RaCHel, yo tengo una pregunta... ella habla hebreo?" (Rachel, I have a question... do you speak hebrew?)
I said of "si," and then he began to speak: "En Genesis, Bereshit Bara Elokim et HaShamayim V'et Ha'aretz, V...?"
So, I continued "Ha'aretz Hayta To'hoo Va'vohoo, Vichoshech Al P'nei Haada-"
"CHOSHECHHHHH! CHOSHECHHH!!!" Yo no se como pronunciarlo, Gracias!" (I didn't know how to pronounce that, thank you!)
And then continued on with the class...
When class ended, he came over to me to thank me for being able to help him!

It's funny because on the way into our school building, there is graffiti all over the walls.
There are a lot of cool pictures but of course, there is anti-Semitic graffiti (jewish stars crossed out and swastikas), too.
The friends Aliza and I have made are SO impressed with us. They think we're great and they really applaud us for coming to Spain and being so 'cool' with what they do, even though we don't do it.
Upon coming to school, I wasn't so sure how to address who I am. The people in my class would be from all over the world but I didn't know if they would accept me the way the CUNY program accepted Aliza and myself.
Do I keep it a secret and tell people i'm allergic to the sun (hence my long sleeves)?
Do I pretend i'm just like everyone else?
Or do I express who I am, and be proud of the way I was born and raised?

In the end, you all know what Aliza and I decided to do.
We are not ashamed of who we are, even though there are may be anti-Semites sitting next to us in class.
We're proud of who we are and we're happy to show all these people (who might not have met Jews before) that we are normal, good people just like them.

When I spoke hebrew the first time in class accidentally, I was mortified.
All of my classmates knew I was Jewish, but professors?! That's something different. What if the professor was anti-Semitic? What would happen to me?
Would he look at me differently from the rest of class or would he continue to treat me the same way as he did before?
Normally, being my shy self - I would shut my mouth for the rest of the semester in fear that I would do it again and with the fear that my professor wouldn't like me. But, instead, I pushed myself to keep trying and to make sure not to let anything get in the way of my learning.

After today's class, I've learned that he does look at me differently.
He seems to like me even more now.
He is happy that he can pronounce my name (Spanish people can pronounce the hebrew chet) and every time he calls on me, he emphasizes it.
But I can tell from him stopping the class to have me finish a passuk from the Torah that he thinks of me as a person who despite what's written on the outer walls of the school building, I can still be who I want to be and be proud for being raised the way I was.