It was 2005 and Brenda Sanchez-Frichanet had just gotten off a bus in Mexico City.

A la venida Álvaro Obregón.

She was 20 years old and a little nervous.

It was the first time she was visiting this place that she had heard so much about.

Colonia Roma.

When I left the bus, I started walking around the avenue Álvaro Obregón.

It was a huge avenue in the Colonia Roma.

But the most impressive thing was that the street was full of trees called Jacarandas.

And it was spring.

So all the flowers were purple.

It was beautiful.

And then the first time I saw something like that.

As Brenda walked down the street, people smiled and said hello.

It was incredible. But the most impressive thing for me was the people.

Most of them were young, like me.

They used modern and eccentric clothes with many colors.

I had never seen that in my people.

Brenda had moved to Mexico City from her hometown to study art.

At first, she felt lost in the nation's capital, with over 300 neighborhoods or colonias.

But walking through Colonia Roma under the Jacarandas, Brenda felt this neighborhood was special.

I wanted to study art.

And when I went to Rome for the first time, I didn't have any doubts.

...