Culturally, I self identify as German-American. My heritage is German with a little bit of Irish but in the past 6 years I have been studying German and becoming more connected to my roots. With a name like mine, Laura Wagner, I am very much linked to my cultural heritage. I have visited the country more than 4 times and I have researched where my grandparents lived and where their parents were from. I have become very passionate about my cultural identity and learning about where my family came from.
Aside from heritage, I also culturally identify as a swimmer. Identifying with this group has created certain in-groups and out-groups. An example of one of the in-groups I have participated in is the in-group of Sprinters, those who swim short distances fast. We tend to view distance swimmers as an out-group because they train differently and don’t understand why we chose to sprint. Another, broader out-group being a swimmer has created is other athletes. My friends and I tend to view other athletes as an out-group because their cultures around their sports are so much different than the one around swimming.
Strongly identifying as a German-American and as a swimmer may change the way that I view other cultures and act in my everyday life, but I still have my own values that have not formed from being a part of those two cultures. My sense of self is not affected too strongly because I do not let myself be fully engulfed by these two cultures and instead hold onto things that I have pulled from multiple other cultures.
My social identity relates relatively strongly to my German culture because most of the friends I have are ones that I have met either in Germany or through learning German.
Laura The Explora 
You clearly have a signature pose with the double thumbs-up! What, exactly, do you take from your German heritage that affects your day-to-day life? How does that mesh with US American cultural expectations?
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Haha, its hardly my signature pose- I think I just happened to select the only two pictures ever taken of me with the double thumbs up! I don’t know if my German heritage specifically affects me TOO much on a day to day basis, but the fact that I do have that heritage leads to me being more culturally sensitive and culturally aware on a day to day basis. I am very interested in learning about other cultures and languages and that interest affects who I am friends with and the interactions that I have, as well as how I react to and feel about those interactions, every day.
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