College Admissions Essay: A Part Of My Life

As I grow older and live new experiences, I realize how my childhood and God led me to the circumstance I am now, which is my last semester of nursing school. I come to appreciate my mother’s hard work to get me through school as well as through life. Growing up in a low-income family in Los Angeles, California with a dad who was a full-time alcoholic and drug addict, was not a good circumstance to grow up. My mother did not speak English or had a job and believed that a married woman is to fully depend on her husband. There were times when my 2 siblings and I had nothing to eat since my dad barely came home with money after spending it all on alcohol and drugs. Due to this living situation and the fact that I was the oldest child, I felt the strong responsibility to drop out of school once I was old enough to work. Education was not an option in my future. Since we didn’t have much money, my mom signed my siblings and me to free afterschool programs at my local Catholic church, so we could learn more about our religion and the importance of God in our lives. I remember my excitement to wake up early Sunday mornings to get ready for mass, even though it took 2 bus routes to get to church. I learned from nuns and priests the importance of caring for others as if they were my own family because everyone deserves the same type of care. Caring was something I learned through religion, and not something I was born knowing. As a way to start fresh, my dad decided to move us to

“Tough times don’t last, tough people do” - Julian Edelman. Throughout life I have overcome obstacles that seemed almost impossible to conquer. Crying, fighting, searching for a way out of my life that has haunted me for eighteen years. I thought I would never live to see this age, but here I am today, standing tall and proud amongst others everyday. The lessons I have learned and experiences I have gone through have built my character, gave meaning to my visits back home, and have helped me find ways to keep myself busy with free time.

My perceptional blocks and personal barriers are causing me to reflect on past memories which compromise my self esteem. Instead of remaining hopeful, I’m feeling overwhelmed with confusion and frustration. I’m clinging onto the fact that I’m in school to prepare for a better and brighter future and even that is grim. My perception of life is that no matter how hard you work and try by doing the right thing life is not graceful to the jobless. Writing this paper is encouraging me not to give up although I owe the financial aid office a thousand dollars by next class or they will resend my loan back to the lender. Nonetheless, this paper is allowing me to see my thought process written out and the importance of remaining calm.

In April of 2012, I was ten years old and living in a loving, happy household in Southern Maryland. My family consisted of my mother, and my two older sisters, Rachel and Lauren. I was of course like every other typical ten year old; I loved to watch Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, hanging out with my friends, and to spend time with my family. I did not think much about boys the way my sisters usually did, but I knew that one day that I was to marry a boy because that is what seemed to be the only option growing up.

I felt lost. I had no hope, motivation, or joy. After hitting a brick wall in my path towards graduating, I felt totally incapacitated. Suddenly, through the struggle and pain shone a tiny, fluffy, and cuddly beacon of light. Her name would eventually be Boogies. She brought a purpose back into my life. Her love filled a void in my heart that I could not have previously defined. My relationship with my cat has helped me regain ambition and a true excitement for life.

The wind serrated past my body. I hesitated, reminiscing all the memories we treasured years ago. Sitting down on a nearby bench, looking at the emptied bus stop. I ran my fingers through the leathery pages of my small book that my father had given me. How long it has been? Five… six years? The clouds suddenly swirled and closed the sky, the thunder roared. Girls of all ages and appearances rushed through the streets as they had just finished school. I smiled mirthlessly.

My story begins on the 8th of November an "epic" day. I was born about two weeks early with my twin brother. we weighted about 8 ounces and we could fit in the palm of my dad's hand but not all was good we suffered from asthma and we were also diagnosed with being color blind. we had to be put in machines to help me breathe. That’s all I remember for my first 2 years of being alive. Then disaster struck as we had to go into the foster care system because our parents were drug and alcoholic addicts. Me and my 4 brothers we spilt up into two different homes me and isaac were with one family after about 2 months going home to home. Meanwhile our 3 other brothers were with a different foster family.

I’m at the store with my mother, but what for? My mom looks at me. I see her mouth moving, but cannot hear a sound. I know she just asked me something and I should know what to say back, but I don’t. I don’t even know what she has said, or how many times she has said it to me.

Aurora, Illinois, a suburb near Chicago with many hills, big and small, and many lakes, rivers, and ponds. The townhouse I lived in was quite noisy at times, thanks to mom and dad. Aside from all the parental chaos, home was home, purple chicken noodle soup and bike rides were what I looked forward to. I loved the landscape and how much of it there was, the sky was always so colorful, the fireflies lit up the city parks making the city seem magical in a way. Aurora was a city that was all about unity, everyone came together for events, clubs, and during tragedies. You would always see a group of people running the hills in matching shirts or a whole neighborhood celebrating someone's birthday.

It's hard living alone, in a jungle, and your only resources are what you can find. Being a nomad is definitely not easy, especially when you live in a place like Nicaragua. I have no friends, no family, no home, no entertainment, and the only things I have is a compass, a tent, a water bottle, a knife, and a bag. Almost everything I once had, is now lost. More specifically, taken. Taken by the almighty ruler, petar. He and his slovakian army killed each and every single person in Nicaragua, including my family. I'm the only survivor, and if there are other people who are still alive, they’re probably in prison, getting ready to enter the gas chamber. I have never been so sad in my life, and petar is probably feeling the exact opposite. All the Slovakian wanted was power. I’m only sixteen years old, and I decided not to continue on in the pool of sadness that I'm in.

“I’m proud of you.” These are the words that keep me going. When I was left here, hint the sarcasm, I felt like I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t ready to grow up and face the world so quick when I still had so much to learn about myself. I was so enclosed with my family that the next couple days growing up wasn’t an option and I had to be careful. With all this Independence as an individual and not hide behind my family. By the time it came for the weekend I felt better about myself like I can do this and it gets easier. I had this new view on college because of the new friends that I met. When I’m around them I forget about missing home and my family. They are my second family who supports each other and don’t want to see them beating themselves up. We meet up and do thing on and off campus, study as a group and eat together. Without them I would just be in my dorm all the time. Being here by myself I have more freedom than I did at home. I wasn’t being watched over like a hawk 24/7.

Some days you wake up and feel something is wrong, or you feel that something is going to go very right today. The date was september 4th, 2016. The day felt pretty normal, I got up, got dressed, ate breakfast and got ready for school. I go to my bus stop at 7:30 and right now it was 7:18. I decided to see how my fish was. I have an 60 gallon aquarium that held more than 50 fish. I gave them some more food and saw that my grandpa was going to put some decorations in the aquarium. When 7:30 hit I put on my shoes and walked to my bus stop. I had a good day at school, and I thought I was going to fail my science test. I actually I passed the test, I was so happy. My day was going pretty good until I went home.

I was drowning in my tears. The life I once had was soon about to transform, and I wasn’t sure if it was for the best. My life’s been an ongoing rollercoaster, with several volatile destinations on the way. It was 2015 and my mom had just delivered the news that we were moving to New Orleans in a couple months. Well - you see, my heart has and will always be in Miami, the city where I watched myself sprout, where I roamed the streets on the quest for adventure.

My life is a sailboat sailing through the sea. It is a sailboat because sometimes life can be an easy breeze and it feels like you have no worries and nothing else matters except the moment you are currently in. Although sometimes life can almost feel like you’re in the middle of a terrible storm in the ocean ; everything seems to be going wrong in every way. Once you finally get out of the storm, the sun starts peeking through the clouds; the waves become calm again and the cooling sea breeze hits your face ever so softly. Knowing that everything is going to be okay.

There was a time when i was a little boy, only 6 years old and i had a big fear of being alone or being in the dark which wasn't unusual for a kid that age. I was a happy kid and had no problems in life i just had a normal life. One day my mom came in my room when i was listening to music and said “hey honey, the house is kinda boring why don't we go on a vacation for a day or two” i smiled and said sure why not. I didn't get to explore a lot in the world and it i thought it would be a great experience and have a little fun. There wasn't any problem about going on a vacation right? Me and my mom started packing our stuff up and put everything in the car like snacks, drinks, anything you would need for a trip then we hit the road. We were heading to california up by ocean side so we could go to the beach. I would of been my first time going to the beach because i lived in yuma which is a really deserted place, there's nothing there but little water parks and pools so i was very excited to go to a beach. The ride was gonna take about 2 or 3 hours my mom said which kinda disappointed me but i didn't care i was a happy kid. It was about 10 a.m and i was pretty tired, we had 3 hours to go and i thought i could get some sleep to make the time pass.