At 16 months, freshman Grace Landon left her home country and a different life behind in exchange for one she never would have known otherwise.

“I was adopted kind of in the mountain range — the mountain range that separates Europe and Asia, or something like that,” she said.

Landon was adopted from Russia by American parents — a rare instance in the United States. According to childwelfare.gov, in 2007 and 2008, approximately 136,000 children were adopted annually in the United States. Of these, intercountry adoptions accounted for 14 percent of all adoptions in 2007 and 13 percent of all adoptions in 2008.

“My mom kind of told me I was adopted my whole life, ” Landon said. “I grew up knowing about it, and I wouldn’t really think anything about it.”

Like most Southwest students, Landon grew up in the states. She hasn’t seen Russia since she left as an infant.

“If I go back now they might keep me there, because I have Russian citizenship. So I have to wait until I’m 18.”

She hopes to go back and meet her birth parents one day.

“[We’re] not in contact with them,” she said. “We don’t really know anything about them. I would research their names, because I know my birth mother’s name. I would just search and search until I found something that I knew would be right.”

Landon says it makes her sad when people find out she is adopted and can only respond with “oh.” She thinks there are several misconceptions about people who are adopted.

“[Some people think] if you’re adopted, you’re nothing,” Landon said. “Like you don’t know how to live in the place that you’re going to live in — people are like, ‘oh, you have a Russian background, are you prepared in live in Kansas?’”

However, Landon doesn’t agree with the stereotypes of being adopted because she never feels out of place because of it.

“It makes me kind of sad knowing that I’m adopted, but I don’t care at the same time,” she said. “Some people are like, ‘oh, you look just like your mom,’ and I do look like my adopted mom. But I don’t think there’s anything different. I don’t feel like I stand out. I feel like I fit in everywhere.”

More on Grace Landon

• Favorite activity: “Softball and batting. I just like the team-building skills, the people you meet. I’ve played my whole life — I’ve played for 12 years.”
• If you could be good at any one thing: “Reading. I’m not good at reading at all.”
• Something most people don’t know: “I learned to speak English in three weeks when I was one.”