I'm sure most of you have seen advertisements on television from different companies who will research your DNA and then send you a report detailing your ancestry. Well, I did it! I decided to go with My Heritage DNA. It was a fun experience. And I got quite a surprise. Read on.
I ordered the kit online. A few days later it showed up in the mail and this was the box in which it arrived.
You simply slide the two halves of the box open and in the center are the instructions and the vials you will use to collect your DNA.
The first thing in the box is a reminder to activate your DNA kit before sending in your sample. Again, this is all very simple and done online.
Next in the box is the envelope provided which you will use to mail in your DNA samples. It is not postage prepaid, so you will need to add an appropriate amount of postage. It will cost a little over $2.00 to mail it first class. At least that is how much is cost from the the post office at the Watergate building in Washington.
Next up, the plastic bag that will hold the vials you send to the lab.
And finally, the vials and the DNA collection swabs. There are two vials and two swabs. You will take a DNA sample from the inside of your mouth. One swab on the left check and one on the right. Then, place the swab in the vial and secure the top.
Here are my results. A little bit of a shock. I was expecting more North and West European and less English. I had positively no idea that there was any Italian ancestry. But, I am a rather substantial 15.3% Italian.
There are several other companies who will provide you with even more information. For instance, 23andme gives you health and ancestry information. That costs considerably more than this test. And I'm not quite sure that I want to know all of that. I mean, I know my ancestry now. Do I really want to know what diseases I could potentially come down with? I'll have to give that some more thought.
I ordered the kit online. A few days later it showed up in the mail and this was the box in which it arrived.
You simply slide the two halves of the box open and in the center are the instructions and the vials you will use to collect your DNA.
The first thing in the box is a reminder to activate your DNA kit before sending in your sample. Again, this is all very simple and done online.
Next in the box is the envelope provided which you will use to mail in your DNA samples. It is not postage prepaid, so you will need to add an appropriate amount of postage. It will cost a little over $2.00 to mail it first class. At least that is how much is cost from the the post office at the Watergate building in Washington.
Next up, the plastic bag that will hold the vials you send to the lab.
And finally, the vials and the DNA collection swabs. There are two vials and two swabs. You will take a DNA sample from the inside of your mouth. One swab on the left check and one on the right. Then, place the swab in the vial and secure the top.
Here are my results. A little bit of a shock. I was expecting more North and West European and less English. I had positively no idea that there was any Italian ancestry. But, I am a rather substantial 15.3% Italian.
There are several other companies who will provide you with even more information. For instance, 23andme gives you health and ancestry information. That costs considerably more than this test. And I'm not quite sure that I want to know all of that. I mean, I know my ancestry now. Do I really want to know what diseases I could potentially come down with? I'll have to give that some more thought.
