My Life Experience

For the majority of my life, I had been shy, even though it didn’t seem like it most of the time, I was scared to death when I met new people. I know that it sounds extremely trivial, but I feel that when you first meet someone, you’re ultimately giving them their first impression of yourself and that is a lot of pressure. It seemed almost certain that I would lead a life of being a social wallflower until March 2017, more specifically, March 28th, 2017. This day was and still is important to me because I learned how to be confident, and through my experience, it taught me something that I will hold onto forever. Prior to this day, I was an extremely introverted person and rarely went out of my way to make friends. As a volunteer at day

Have you ever been in a conversation where you have no clue what to say next. Have you ever been in a situation where you see someone you don't know and wanna talk to them but dont have the courage to say anything?

On the Wednesday of the year 2000, my parents have already envisioned how my life would turn out to be. My mother expects much of me only because she was the first to ever attend college in our family. All my life because of that, I was always expected to: go to college, have a successful career just like my mother does, and eventually surpass her. Yet as I grow and develop my understanding of how this chaotic world works, I get lost. Throughout my life, I have had many hardships which I sadly at first did not take care of correctly. I am still human however as I understand that making mistakes is a part of life. Life is about giving the perfect effort. I know as I grow and develop, I don’t need to meet anyone’s expectations as long as I continue to try even when my limit has long been passed. I just want to continue to learn and and improve myself as a person. This world does not choose for me nor does it decide what I have to do with my life. It is my sketchbook and I am the one who decides what to draw in it. Right now, I am doodling the most complex eighteen-hour piece.

Throughout my life, I’ve had the opportunity to call several places my home. Coming from a military family, moving is not an uncommon occurrence, though I have been fortunate enough to only have lived in three states, Virginia, Arizona, and Texas. Each different place has had a unique effect on who I have become today and my goals.

I tend to believe that my life has been fortunate compared to families in other places of the world, but also similar to many of those families. I was born in Hidalgo, Texas to a poor, low-income family. I lived in Reynosa, Mexico for the first four years of my life where I learned to speak Spanish and basic knowledge thanks to my mother. Since I was the first born, my parents have always been overprotective of me. When my sister was born in 2004, we moved to Pharr, Texas, where my parents built a house. My father worked long hours day after day to be able to provide for us while my mother took care of us and the house as a housewife.

It was early morning; I had slept very little.  My stomach was torn between hungry and sick.  The fact that my nerves were on edge did not help the situation.

It was a dark and perspiring night as the wind was breezing on my face. My parents and I went to the entrance of the airport in Ethiopia. The date was September 15, 2017 and that day was the day that we were leaving Ethiopia. We had stayed there for one month for a vacation and to meet our other family members. We went at 7:30 pm and the flight was at 10:30. We went a bit early because it is better than being late. Also, if a problem insists, we would have time to fix it but that wouldn’t happen,...right? Honestly, I didn't think we would've gotten on the airplane that night because of that horrible incident. It was the most meaningful experience of my life because it made me surprised when I heard that our visa was expired. All this time we did not check that the visa stamp said that September 14 is the day were leaving in the month that we stayed there. We told the people who worked at the Immigration that we were leaving on September 15 but their mistake caused us to be a problem when we were about to leave Ethiopia. We had to be in a rush so we didn’t miss the airplane flight. For that reason, the life lesson that I learned is that managing your time is crucial when it comes for many reasons. We came a little early so would get the process before the flight done and if something happens, then we would have plenty of time to do something about it. If we didn't manage our time and we came later, we would probably miss our flight or we would've gotten really

As a nine year old girl, I didn’t think much about life and what the future held for me. I mostly thought about riding my pony, playing with my friends at school, and playing on my family’s farm. I didn't think much about how quickly my life could completely change at any minute.

I grew up in a small town called Buttonwillow, which had four streets and was so tiny that everybody knew each other and possibly knew about each other. I wouldn't describe it as a town full of crime but it did have many "bad" people. I didn't live on the great side of town so I heard cops almost every other night, but it was normal for me growing up and I didn't think much of it because I knew I was okay. My family only consisted of my three older sisters, my mom, and I, until later my mom met my step-father and so then came three more children. I was the middle child so I was the outcast.

My life was perfect, I got along with my siblings, my mom and I were close… Well then there’s my dad. We were always really close, he and I would go out to the barn together at the old house and he would speak to me as if I were the audience. We always enjoyed each other's company until one day he started acting strange, and then stranger, and then even stranger until the point where my mom found him in the middle of the night standing in a parking lot in his pajamas. She eventually left him… I don’t blame her, I mean he wouldn’t get help.

The airport right now is packed. The steady sounds of feet against flooring echoes in my ears. A child's scream brings me back from a daydream. For a second I forgot where I was or what I was about to do.  I honestly still can't believe this is happening. Especially to me. From the dull normalized life I live, I am about to throw in a mixture of crazy the likes I couldn't even fathom.

I was born in the town called ‘Gang-Seo’ which is the western side of the river that passes through the capital of South Korea. I used to hang around with my friends at the small park that is located on the back side of the old white apartment complex where I lived. When I turned six years old, my family moved into the town called ‘Gang-Nam’ is the southern side of the river. The atmosphere was really different from where I had lived, since all of my new friends went to private institutions after school. I couldn’t communicate and play with my friends for a long time, since I didn’t go to those places. I felt lonely. I didn’t have much time to have a conversation in my home either, because my brother, who is seven years older than I, do always stayed outside until the late evening and my parents both worked at the time. But there was a person who made me smile sometimes: my grandmother. She used to tell me a lot of her old-time stories and play pranks on me, all the time such as making me try weird food which she improvised and answering my questions with annoying wordplay that I couldn’t understand. To me, she wasn’t just grandmother, also my best friend.

To begin, the desire I have to be admitted into Boise State University’s online graduate social work program is strong, and the fire behind my desire was lit long ago. I haven’t always known how to label my desired career path, let alone the correct educational path to take to lead me to a life of helping others; but here I am today, an optimistic young woman with a few years of life experience and a college degree under my belt; ready to commit to a graduate program that will give me the tools and advanced knowledge necessary to follow my dream of becoming a licensed social worker.

On one night, something terrifying has happened to me and my family, a scary experience that has taught us that life is too short and that anything can happen to anyone at any moment. These life experiences can be life changing along with reflecting. Reflection is the process we take to make meaning and learn from our experiences. This is a story that has definitely changed my viewpoint of life.

Want to know what I did this summer that is different than yours? Well you’re going to hear a lot about it from me in this writing. Traveling in a long hot car ride down to Panama City, Florida is one heck of a ride let me tell you. The hot air on your face as you’re just trying to relax in the back seat of a crammed SUV. The air is so hot that it’s way to hard to fall asleep in the fifteen hour long car ride to your destination. So then you're forced to actually communicate with the people in the car with you, which than you figure out isn’t so bad after all. Laughing the whole way down and jamming out made our whole trip down so much better than it originally was going to be. And than when you finally pull into the driveway of your new