Karina Tamayo: The Introduction

Well hello everyone!

My name is Karina Tamayo and I am a first year undergraduate student here at the University of Florida.

I was born in Miami, FL nineteen years ago, but for about seventeen years of my life I have lived in Naples, FL.

My parents are from Cali, Colombia but they both arrived to New York City at a young age, so our family has quite the mix of Americana with some prominent Colombian tradition.

Currently I am a Music Performance Major, my instrument of choice being trombone. I was in the Gator Marching Band last semester and had the greatest time of my freshman life. Due to my involvement there I joined Tau Beta Sigma, which is a national honorary band sorority dedicated to serving the bands here at the University of Florida.

 So why am I in an entrepreneurship class you are probably wondering! Well the program I am in allows for me to pursue a degree in music, but it also allows me to pursue another degree in an outside field that I hope will become my future career.  Last semester I was on a Pre-Health track to medical school, but this semester I've decided that I needed a change and found that business could be an excellent area  to get into.

With that said, all of these recent changes have lead me to begin to question what I want in life. In all honesty how can I possibly know? In my opinion my life has just started. So currently I have simple wants, like to pass this class, have an excellent trombone recital this semester, hang out with my sorority sisters for spring break, and of course graduate from UF with some sort of degree. However there is so much more to life than these current sub-level desires.

I have been lucky enough to have parents who want me to be open and mindful of the world we live in, with that we have traveled the world together. Road trips across the United States, London, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, Canada, and most recently Colombia have widened my eyes to the reality that exists outside the university campus.

I see that in my life I wish to attain three things, just three things that are general enough to cover a wide area of wants and needs: peace, love, and happiness. I believe that with those three powerful wants, my life won't be about some ultimate end goal, but instead an adventure story that I get to share with others.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to learning about you folks!

This photo was taken in Cartagena, Colombia during this passed winter break.