My Experience In My Life

I went through a rough time period in my life. Sometimes I’m afraid to talk about it, as if I can’t accept the fact that I actually went through it. During these difficult years of my life, I suffered severely from Depression and Anxiety. I had multiple panic attacks in a day and I got to the point of having suicidal thoughts. I felt numb; everyday was a blur to me. I sincerely thought I wouldn’t make it to the age of fifteen.

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

I had only left the United States once before in my life. It was a small trip to London with my mother to visit a distant relative. It was a quick trip, maybe 3 or 4 days and I could hardly remember it because it was 12 years ago. I didn’t have much motivation to leave home again except for university. Until I got a call. On Wednesday, April 24th at exactly 3:37 pm I got a call from my aunt Kaasni. This was no ordinary phone call, as we normally had pre-organized phone calls every other Sunday evening and she hardly talked to me when I had school work. That was the deal with my parents after my father left – I could speak to my aunt who he lived with every other Sunday and on certain holidays. I picked up the phone and my father, drunk and hazy spoke. “Sasha my dear ba-ba-baby how are you,” he slurred “you know what, I think you should come spend some time with me, here in Calcutta, get a different taste of what life is like for your old man.” It took a moment for me to process what he had said – he wanted me to see him, after 15 years, he wanted me in his life again. Then I heard my auntie on the phone “Sasha? I am so sorry, your father drank a little too much. We are on holiday here and I hope he hasn’t disturbed you,” she said. “Oh no Auntie Kay, its fine,” I replied, still deep in thought. The line went silent for a moment as I heard her shush my intoxicated father while she held her palm to the phone. She picked up once again and continued apologizing until I

Almost a year ago, August 2016 was one of the most exciting times of My life. I was a recent high school graduate and that past March I had been accepted into the Faculty of Education at the UoW in Manitoba. So, august was a busy month for me, basically everyday I hung out with my friends watched every single YouTube video related to college, and began packing up my room for the move from Dartmouth NS to Winnipeg MB. I had previously already picked my courses for the 2016/1017 year and now I was looking up textbooks and looking up my professors on rate my professor .com, highly recommend. my whole senior year of HS I was so excited to be moving and taking this new ‘chapter in my life. September couldn’t come fast enough. The end of august came and I had packed up and left my home, and my family. The journey to Winnipeg was thrilling and tiring, but I landed safely and I walked out to my auntie Robyn waiting for me, she had come with her sister, my Auntie Leslie (more on her later *eye roll emoji*) they helped me load the truck and off we were to see my new home, well my room. I was about to begin my dorm life, in Lions Manor floor 4. My aunts helped me unpack something’s, but later left me to settle. Which was fine by me, I was so excited to make this room mine. I had posters and pictures and cute bedding. It only took me the rest of the week to fully unpack and mesh with how small my room was.

As I look back at my life there is only one instance where something happened to me that was so incredibly important then but it does not matter to me anymore. I was about to enter junior high school at St. Joseph catholic school in Sylvania. My parents came to me with a very serious look on their faces. My mother took me by the hand and told me to go sit down in the in the living room.

Well, where do i start? The environment i grew up in was not a fun one. I was born in San Antonio and lived in Boerne until i was about 7-8 months old. My grandparents then bought a 15 acre property in Harper. We then lived there, and still live there today. I started school in Harper Elementary. Mrs. Payne was my Pre-k teacher. She helped me alot in that year. She sent me home with books because i was already reading. Throughout my elementary years i was a good smart kid. I had a few bad times but i was a good kid. I played baseball with a lot of kids that still go to this school. Baseball was my life. I loves playing it. I still do. Around my 1st grade year is when my parents started having problems. When i was 8 years old, the summer before my 2nd grade year, my parents got divorced. Elizabeth, my mother, took me and my sister chloe and we lived in Heritage Oaks in Ingram. Elizabeth met a man named Daniel Franz. Daniel moved in with us and married Elizabeth. Daniel was a good guy. He loved Chloe and me a lot. The summer before my 4th grade year we moved to Helotes. I attended Kuentz Elementary for two years. My best friend there was Jeremy Leal. He lived down the street and we played basketball everyday after school. I attended Garcia Middle school for my 6th grade year. I was in percussion and most of my friends were too so i always had fun. I was usually 2nd or 3rd chair after Preston and Alana. Elizabeth and Daniel wanted to buy a house so we moved to Laurel Canyon.

When I was only seven years old, I had decided that I was going to be a professional ballerina. My parents had enrolled me in the local dance lessons since I started walking and I fell in love with ballet right away. My friends and I would attend a dance group everyday after school and would travel to places on the weekends for competitions. Living in the suburbs, mommy, daddy, dance lessons, and me, I thought I had a perfect life and wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. We would enjoy the summer breezes, and the Long Island Beaches; it was a true American dream until all good things come to an end.

During my childhood I was mainly raised by my mom, dad, and my two half brothers ,Matt and Taylor Lambert, who I basically just considered my brothers. I always thought of it this way, because they never really went to there dads house. So us three kids were mainly raised our whole life by the same parents, but somehow we all ended up with completely different personalities. Taylor has always been really book smart and a social butterfly, Matt has always been the jokester and the one who gets in trouble the most, and I’ve been the more quiet one who observers what’s going on. How we all ended up so different is question I wonder about all the time. My mom was never really into to punishments, and neither was my dad. My dad was more into life lessons talks that would go on for hours. If one of us ever got into trouble,which was mainly Matt, my dad would sit all of us down for a life lesson talk. My mom would usually have to intervene and tell my dad that the kids get the point. Otherwise my dad would talk the whole entire day. I believe the reason why Matt was the one who got in trouble the most was because everything he did was loud, and he wasn’t very sneaky. One time he got some fire crackers from a friend and left them in his pocket. So when his pants went through the wash my mom was not to happy. Also, Matt would always make fun of Taylor in the most obnoxious way just so Taylor would fight him. Why he did that I don’t know, because Taylor has always been the stronger

“Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you”. That is what my dad was saying in the big screen in front of me, quoting Aldous Huxley, next to my mom, both smiling widely and a bit dewy-eyed. It was a video they recorded unbeknownst to me that was being shown at the Jenkins Foundation scholarship awards ceremony; a night that will last in my memory for the rest of my life. An acknowledgment that came almost as unexpected as the realization that I would study in one of the best universities in Mexico. And, at the same time, a recognition that seemed to be just an obvious next step, the natural consequence of all that I had done and worked for up to that moment.

As an elementary and middle schooler, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. While my classmates seemed to know that they wanted to be an artists, firefighters, or teachers, I was completely unsure. My interests were wide-ranging and varied, and I could never imagine being stuck doing one thing for the rest of my life. Each time we were asked what we wanted to grow up to be, I gave a different response- from ice cream tester to marine biologist to mountaineer- never wanting to commit to the same potential job more than once. And this incertitude didn't seem to be something that I was growing out of- it continued until earlier this year, when I finally unearthed my passion, the thing I was meant to do with my life. In a single day, I went from unsure about my future to absolutely certain about what it would hold. It’s a day that I know I’ll continue to cherish for the rest of my life.

I lean against the hospital bed reflecting on my life and where it would now lead me. I have just overdosed on a painkiller and I thought my life was over- no hope, no friends, and most certainly, no support. Or at least that is what it felt like. I was at a time of my life where constant bullying was occurring and being in a small school at the time, there was no place to escape. In my mind, I thought the only way out was to vanish from this world completely and so I snooped around for a bottle of pain killers and took the whole bottle.

Skrt Skrt! Dust blew through the air as Kiley and I sat in complete silence. Looking around in awe, I realized we finally settled somewhere other than the gravel road we started on.. Smashed and unrecognizable, the tahoe rested in the ditch next to my dad’s cornfield. What just happened? I vaguely remember my mom’s voice telling me in the past that parents set rules for a reason and although kids usually ignore not like them, they provide boundaries to ensure everyone's best interest. Cold and scared, I sat there shivering. I concluded that in this situation if I had listened to my mom, I believe I could have prevented this trouble. I saw my life at fourteen years old flash before me on November 19, 2016. This experience will live in my memory forever.

Imagine your story becoming the forerunner of someone else’s. Someone you have never met, yet because of one story, he or she found the strength and courage to become a person far greater than ever imagined. A story of unimaginable adventures, lessons, and hardships, this is the story I, Thu Dang, will create for myself and others.

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.

At this point in my life , if i review my previous experiences i would say that i am fairly pleased. I've been able to gain numerous life and academic skills through hard work and determination. Though many of my experiences haven't been pleasant ,in a way it has helped me grow and build my character as a person.