"Jill--you're not from Indiana!"
What? That's news to me.
However, a few months ago, my father-in-law read in my passport that I was, indeed, born in Wisconsin, not Indiana. To the Mexican psyche, one is from the place they were born. So yes, if you were "accidentally" born in Florida because one of your parents was in grad school there and never stepped foot in the state after the age of six months, to your Mexican friends, you are a Floridian.
Mario got lucky in the fact that he was born within the official confines of Mexico City, as he likes to refer to himself as a chilango. He spent the majority of his growing-up years 10 blocks from the line that officially divides the DF from the state of Mexico. But, to his way of thinking, he was born on the "right" side of that line.
I don't mind my newfound status as a Wisconsite. All my extended family is from there, and while I haven't lived there since the age of two, I've spent plenty of Thanksgivings, Christmases, Easters and summers there, so Wisconsin and I do have a connection.
But I'm a Hoosier, baby. And that's all there is to that.
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On the opposite note, when in the US, I've been introduced to people as "my friend from Mexico".
Woah, slow down, Sparky. I live in Mexico. I am not from Mexico, and it's clear that no matter how many years I'll spend there, I will NEVER be considered to be "from" Mexico. Don't get me wrong--I love Mexico, and I sure hope I'm assimilating. However, when I'm ninety years old, I will still get asked, "Where are you from?"
It's clear (to Mexicans, at least) that I'm not "from" Mexico.
