Salma Geneidy
Class of 2021
“I was born in Alexandria, Egypt, right on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. It was really fun there. I moved to the United States when I was two, then moved back to Egypt, then moved again and stayed in the US when I was six. I participate in music at Centre and play the flute, and I recently decided that I’m going to major in Music and Art History and minor in Film Studies.
I moved around a lot growing up. I never really stayed in the same place for more than two or three years. That changed when I got to Kentucky. I’ve lived in Egypt, South Dakota, Vermont, and Lexington, Kentucky where I live now. I’ve lived in Kentucky longer than any place I’ve resided before. Moving around so much allowed me to experience “a million different schools,” too, even an Episcopal school, which was weird since my family and I are Muslim and everyone there was Christian.
It’s kinda weird because I don’t actually remember feeling integrated into American culture because I was so young when we moved into the country. I remember there was a huge disconnect between me and a lot of people. There were so many little things I didn’t relate to, like being taught how to ride a bike, which seemed like an important part of the life of an American child. I also didn’t watch all the same Disney Channel shows everyone else grew up with. I’ve only recently started watching Drake and Josh. I’m finally understanding all of the references people make around me, and at first I just had no idea what people were talking about.”
"Growing up in the United States was really weird since I saw my dad get mistreated a lot. He’s like the profile people look for when they look for terrorist threats. He was actually on a terrorist watch list for awhile, and he’s currently a doctor at Ephraim McDowell. My dad was convinced the government tapped our phones once, but that's just a weird thing we joke about now.
I grew up speaking Arabic, but when we went out in public my parents would tell us not to because people would think it was weird or they’d be suspicious. It was also weird going on trips with other students growing up because I would always be “randomly” tested going through airports and things like that. I never really understood why that happened back when I was so young.
When we lived in South Carolina, it was really weird going to school because I was the only person of color in the entire school. I didn’t have any friends because no one would talk to me. I had no idea why at the time. We actually moved from South Carolina because my brother and I were mistreated at school and my dad was mistreated at work. Lots of things were hard for my parents to explain to us as kids. As a kid you just don’t know why these things happen. It takes awhile for you to fully get it. My thirteen year old sister is just now getting used to it all."
"Immigrant parents in general are very protective of their children. I never went to sleepovers as a child. If my parents didn’t know the other parents super well, which they never did since we moved around so much, you just couldn’t really go over to their place. My parents always wanted us to be super modest, so I never even wore shorts until high school. It’s always weird little cultural things people never really think of. But then you get used to it I guess.
Lexington has been my favorite place I’ve lived in by far since its way more diverse than other places I’ve been to. There’s actually a community of Arabic people in the city that lots of places just don’t have. We’ve all just been treated better in Lexington than other places. The other small towns we lived in just never really saw non-white people at all. Lexington is incredibly diverse. Kentucky was not at all what I thought it would be. Even though we do have the random run ins there, it’s the first place I’ve lived in that actually feels like home now. Also, Lexington is a foodie town. It’s GREAT there.
It’s been weird being at Centre, because in Egypt, you choose your college based on where you live. My parents went to school in Alexandria because that’s where they both lived. My parents wanted me to go to UK since it’s so close to home, but I wanted to go to UC Berkeley, so Centre was a compromise. I didn’t want to go to Centre at all at first. I literally cried when I sent in my acceptance papers. But, I immediately changed my mind after being on campus for a week. I’ve made so many friends here and I never want to be away from them now. It was hard at first since I’d never been away from my parents before, but now things are better. I’ve had a lot of weird first experiences here. Friendships and relationships here got super close, super fast, and that was just something I never could do before moving around so much. I think I’ve changed a lot here and I question who I am now. Centre has been somehow the best and worst time of my life at the same time. Part of Arab culture is always being dependent on your family, and that’s something you just can’t really do once in college. I’ve really had to learn to be totally dependent on myself."