I consider myself quite lucky in a way. I have lots of friends (girls and boys), and some of them are payos. I have never been attacked, or even called names. But, I must admit that I am not what you could call a typical Roma.

We're not a very rich family, but we don't live badly and, although my parents try to convince me to stop studying, they won't stop me if I decide to carry on. I live in a flat not in a camp, and I'm glad - I like having piped water. My neighbours are payos and we have no problems with each other, we respect each other.

So, my hassles are about my future, about my dreams. I'm also worried about what's in store for my people, the Roma. For me, I know that since I'm a girl and a Roma maybe some payos don't see me as having much of a future, but if I get to university maybe they'll start to see me as competition. But getting to university could make things difficult with other Roma. Lots of them will try very hard to make me change my mind because they're afraid that I'll become a payo, they think that studying will make me forget our culture. I know some Roma men and women have been to university in the south, but very few. They wanted to do it, but they were then kind of seen as outsiders. My community is still frightened of what they think is the bad influence of our payo friends.

There are some things about being Roma that I know I won't change, like I want to be a virgin when I get married. But then I would like to carry on working after getting married, and my husband has to understand that whether he's payo or Roma.

I am more worried about my people. I think they're more on the outside of everything than any other group in Spain. Some of them suffer racist treatment. Some payos say it's the Roma's own fault, saying we don't want to integrate. I can't see what's wrong with us having our own way of doing things (though I reckon me and my family are pretty integrated anyway).