Since I was a teenager, I’ve had people ask me about my ethnicity. A perfect stranger came up to me in the grocery store to ask me if I’m Arabic or maybe Italian. A cashier at a gas station asked me if I’m from southern India. One of my dad’s coworkers asked if my mom is from another country after seeing a picture of me on my dad’s desk. Friends have joked that my parents probably secretly adopted me from a random country my dad visited when he was in the Navy. For over 10 years, people have seemed fascinated by my ethnicity, and over time, it started to make me curious too.

My dad has always been interested in finding out more about our family’s ancestry, but as more and more people began asking me about my ethnicity, he and I both started to get even more intrigued. My dad knew the basics about his own family – they mostly come from England – but no one really knows much about my mom’s family. My grandparents have all passed away, and my great grandparents were gone long before I was born, so we didn’t really have anyone to turn to for more info.

Then, for Christmas, my parents got me an awesome gift – a DNA test from Ancestry.com. I spit into a little tube, mailed it off, and about 6 weeks later, I had my results. For the first time, we were actually able to take a look at where I come from, and in turn, it’s a look at where they come from too (see, I wasn’t actually adopted from a random country during my dad’s Navy days!). It was really cool to see a breakdown of my ethnicity, especially because it helps me to feel a little closer to the grandparents and great grandparents that I never really  got to know. It may sound a little cheesy, but now I feel like I have a better understanding of who I am, who my family is, and where we all come from.

So, how did it all break down?

As expected, I’m mostly from Great Britain, but I was surprised to see Scandinavia on there, and it makes me want to go visit there even more than I already did. I also wasn’t too surprised to see that I’m 4% Middle Eastern, since that’s what people ask me about most often. Still, it is so cool to see a breakdown like this, and I hope I can continue to do some research to learn more about my ancestors, and what makes me, well, me.

Have you ever researched your ancestry? Ever had complete strangers come up to ask you about your ethnicity? Are you interested in learning more about your ancestors too?

Note: this is NOT a sponsored post – it’s just me talking about a product that I think is pretty cool.