My Experience In My Life

“Home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling,” said Cecelia Ahern. In my lifetime, I’ve yet to understand this. All my life has been in different places. My dad is an engineer at an Indian company called Infosys. It requires a lot of hard work, effort, and most of all, traveling. I’ve been to eight different cities and ten different schools. But, who’s counting?

Pflugerville, growing up in this town has been a unique experience not many others can say they had for themselves. Although I never tend to focus on the past, I still have seen this town grow to the extremity it is now today, in being one of the fastest growing areas in all of the United States. Many things you now see today like the new high school or the hospital which is being developed were not here when my I had first moved here. Reflecting back to my childhood, I find it to be inspiring- the experiences and knowledge I have gained throughout my life. Even if i had the chance to change things, I wouldn’t, I would do everything the exact same. My decisions may have not been the greatest at times, but they shaped me into what I am today. While there were many factors to lead me to how I am now, not all were as important as others. Growing up with a brother for example has been something in which words alone will not show how much I appreciate him. Also, growing up in the country has isolated me from a lot of things I sometimes wish I could take back, however the past is gone and the future in now. Many factors have shaped me into the person that I am today and I am grateful for each and everyone of them.

At the age of 20, I mastered the smallest life skills to succeed in this life. I can establish and maintain my finances, file my taxes, maintain my car, communicate, and even pay my college tuition. I have been my own advocate, cheerleader, and counselor ever since I could drive. I learned how to cope and accept my weaknesses, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t struggled with myself. I am constantly in a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension that causes an extreme amount of self doubt.

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.

Have you ever wondered why amazing things happen to you? I have. To have something happen to you in a way that you cannot explain is kind of like a miracle. During my childhood, I experienced a series of events that really marked my life completely. Have I spoken to anyone about them? Yes, but I have not gone into details of these happenstances. The details, which I have not told anyone before, are the most important parts of this narrative since you will understand the significance of their correlations. They marked me completely and forever made me strong.

Growing up without parents at a young age was difficult. I didn’t understand why things happened the way they did and why no one was ever there to answer the many questions I had. Seeing the kids at school drawing their perfect house and family was almost too much to bear sometimes. All the school events, holidays, birthdays and activities always made me feel like I wasn’t whole. At a young age, I knew that I only had myself and with no parental support, it felt like the chances of succeeding were diminished. Without the love and support from a family, it's hard to stay on the right track and have the motivation to do better. I remember envying my peers because I so badly desired what they had. I had to learn how to overcome the jealousy while learning how to be independent. Being on my own taught me to appreciate what I had and how to make light of any situation that life may throw.

One thing I've quickly examined from life is that everyone shares at least one experience from life. We share experiences all the time even when we don't know one another.

It was the summer before my eighth-grade year. I was thirteen years old and so excited for the upcoming school year. I earned a position on both the mixed and girls select choirs. I loved my school, I had a great group of friends, and life was good; or so I thought. On a muggy 100 degree July afternoon, my dad took my little sister and me on an “outing”. We walked to the nearby Zip- Trip gas station for finger freezing milkshakes. Once we purchased our chilly beverages, we proceeded to walk to Brentwood Park. We sat at a wooden picnic table held together by rusty nails and worn down by time. Etchings of hearts with initials inside covered the table like wrapping paper. The three of us chatted about our vacation to Portland and asked “get-to-know-you” questions. After about half an hour, there was a lull in the conversation and all that could be heard was the slurping of the last drops of cookies ‘n cream milkshakes. That’s when dad said he had some news. He announced that he received a job offer as the dentist on an army base, which was fantastic because he had been wanting to find a new position. Then the bomb dropped. The job was on Kwajalein in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and I had no clue where that was. We had 2 months to pack up, say our goodbyes, and leave. September 19th, 2013, we embarked on our new adventure. We flew from Washington to Colorado to Hawaii and on the 21st we arrived at Kwajalein. As soon as we stepped off the plane, we were bombarded by

When my brother was 7 years old he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This was a scary time in my life, not just because my little brother had acquired an incurable disease but because he was on the verge of death when the doctors finally prescribed him. When my brother was first brought to the hospital I feared for the worst. I remember being yanked out of soccer practice and rushed to the hospital as my sister cried at the wheel of our car. The only thing we knew for sure was that my brother was so sickly and so close to death that if he had come in to the hospital a moment later all our lives might have taken a turn for the worst. When we were finally educated on the circumstances we would have to endure in the coming years, my family and I quickly rose to the occasion and set out to learn how to conquer the foreign invader. My mother and I spent countless hours in the emergency room, working with specialists and trying to master the caretaking of a diabetic. Because my dad was busy at work and my sister busy at college, my mom had a lot on her plate and I was more than willing to do whatever I could to help her out. This involved a lot of babysitting while my mother researched and more cooking than I had ever experienced in my life. Thankfully some good did come from this experience. My brother and I spent so much time together that year that we became inseparable, only able to spend short amounts of time away from each other. And to top it off, possibly the

I have only one life and I will use every opportunity to be successful and accomplished anything that comes my way. Because in reality no one is actually perfect to begin with.

Suddenly, I was awakened and violently thrown towards the front of the airplane. My eyes shot open and I blinked three or four times to adjust my dry, out of place contact lenses. The light bothered my sensitive eyes but I was too nervous to even think about shutting them. I spread my arms and legs creating a human starfish, contracted my stiff muscles, and let out a tiny grunt. I stood up from the same seat I was acquainted with for nine hours. When I rose to my feet, something felt strange, something felt different, something felt out of the ordinary. I quickly realized, I was standing at the London Heathrow Airport about to embark on, what I originally thought would be, the most miserable trip of my life.

In my life, I have been very fortunate. Intense struggle, emotional pain, and hardships never have seemed to come my way, as they do prematurely to some children. I have always taken this for granted, so I never thought about my life as being easy.

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.

It is not too long ago that I decided to become a pharmacist. I lived in South Korea most of my life. Back then, I had no idea what I wanted to be other than thinking about immigrate to the United States. I had chance to visit my uncle’s college graduation when I was a little boy and I only dreamed about living in the U.S ever afterward. For example, I decided to go to nursing school simply because there are more chances to move to the U.S as a nurse. The problem was I did not do well in terms of academic performance because I only thought about how to move to the U.S. Additionally, I admitted to hospital couple of times because of a pneumothorax so my gpa bottomed out.

“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.