Synesthesia: My Personal Experience | Teen Ink

Synesthesia: My Personal Experience

December 11, 2015
By ColdplayForever BRONZE, San Jose, California
ColdplayForever BRONZE, San Jose, California
1 article 0 photos 62 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Coldplay fans are the best in the world. If you like Coldplay, then you&#039;re obviously very intelligent, good-looking, and all-around brilliant.&quot;<br /> ~Chris Martin


Many years ago, I noticed many of my senses went together. I thought it was normal for everyone, but I was mistaken.


When I got to sixth grade, my English teacher had us do many things involving music. He played a song, and we had to write down what came to mind. The first song he played, I immediately tasted pomegranates. I know that I tasted pomegranates, because I love them. I wrote down, “The taste of pomegranates.” Then, I smelled mango, and wrote, “The smell of mangoes.” He played the song over and over again, and as the different parts of the song played, I smelled and tasted different things.


Then, he had us all share what we had written down. As I shared what I wrote, I heard people laughing at me. I was at the point of crying when my teacher stepped in and said, “Now, class, that’s enough. I had once read about this condition that some people have that is called…” He thought about it for a second. While he was thinking about what it was called, I had a flashback. I quietly called out, “Synesthesia?”


My teacher nodded. When class was over, I thought about what I suddenly remembered.


I’ve always had a great interest in cooking, so I always watched Food Network. Once, when I was 7 years old, I stumbled upon the show ‘Sweet Genius’.  The first episode I watched, there was one woman who was disqualified in the first round.


I clearly remember her describing her dish by saying, “I have a condition called synesthesia. I see colors every time I taste a specific food, so this is kind of a representation of synesthesia.”


That woman; I don’t even remember her name; she saved me from thinking that I was going mad. This flashback that I had confirmed my sanity.


I then read the book, “A Mango Shaped Space.” More made sense to me, except for one small thing. Why did I not have grapheme-color synesthesia, although it is the most common type? I didn’t see words, or letters in color. That is still a question for me, though not a pressing one.


Only 2 people know of my synesthesia, and I am extremely grateful to them for being there for me no matter what.


I have a few different types of synesthesia, like most synesthetic people.


I hope if something like this happens to you or one of your classmates, everyone else will be a little more understanding than they were of me.


Thank you for taking the time to read this.



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This article has 3 comments.


Yavanna said...
on Jul. 22 2016 at 8:12 pm
Thank you so much for writing this, I too have synesthesia and my mother always thought I was a strange creature,especially when we went to Paris in France and visited the Louvre museum together and all the paintings for me were singing songs and every brush stroke in them tasted of different kinds of marmalade,jam,fruit jelly,chocolate cake,vanilla ice-cream and smelled of freshly washed cotton and rainbow roses.

Writer_101 said...
on May. 14 2016 at 10:04 pm
Writer_101,
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
&quot;All writing, from mathematical equations to Egyptian hieroglyphs, is communication. We put marks on paper (or on walls) purely in the hope that someone else will see them and pause long enough to think about them. Fiction writing is no exception. On the surface, it is simply story-telling (though &#039;simply&#039; suggests that stories are easy to tell, which they aren&#039;t). At its heart though, fiction writing is an attempt by the writer to think things through for him or herself and then to share those thoughts and observations with others. The writer is saying, &#039;After due consideration, this is how I see it. Does it ring any bells with you?&quot;

Really informative, with useful information. Keep writing. (Love he username btw).

Krystal4 said...
on Apr. 1 2016 at 1:59 am
Krystal4, Buena Park, California
0 articles 0 photos 16 comments
I just learned about synesthesia during English class as a literary device. When our teacher said it was an actual condition, I was surprised. I'm really glad that you wrote this article. It's informative to people who might not know what the condition is. Great job, keep writing!!