My Personal Experience In My Life

Ten years ago, I was officially a college dropout; leaving Wiley College after only two years was the biggest mistake of my life. Ten years ago, I created a narrative about the type of people who went to college. I made myself believe that college was a place exclusively for extremely smart people who came from nice middle-class families. College was not a place where an African American who lived in subsidized housing went. Although I was enrolled in college and doing quite well, I fell victim to self-doubt and ultimately believed that I did not have the ability to graduate. Consequently, after only two years, I dropped out of college.

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?

Hope Rebecca Davis, a little formal don’t you think? You’d think that my parents thought I was going to be the hope of the world or something of that sort, but that is the farthest from the truth. I was named Hope just because my mom thought that Hope was a “pretty” name. As you know that was probably a bit disappointing for me, but my name represents a great deal to me. Hope means to have a feeling of expectation or desire for a certain thing to happen… then I considered the following, I can be the person in the world that makes these things happen. I can be the change in this unfluctuating society. I can be the person I want to be when I grow older, I just don’t know what I desire to do yet. But experiences in my life such as these are going to guide me to where I need to be.

I was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I like to think that I’ve been blessed to experience so many different cultures, lifestyle, and diversity in Guatemala City amongst its people spending the first 6 years of my life and then moving to Belize. The change from only speaking and hearing Spanish every day to learning English after moving to Belize was a struggle. A struggle that I am so thankful I went through now because that made my transition much easier as I got to further my education to where I am now; a proud graduate and Alumni from the University of North Florida.

I woke up to the smell of crispy bacon and eggs racing through the house. I went to the kitchen to find a small white paper next to 2 bacon-egg cheese burritos and orange juice. I read the note and it said “ DEAR JONATHON , i am currently at the store getting stuff for the house ill see you later, LOVE MOM!!!” When i read it at first i kind of cringed but i just sat down and ate my burritos and they tasted so cheesey and crunchy it was awesome . Once i finished i went into the living room to listen to the radio. We live in a shaft in the middle of the forest and its never light because the trees but that doesn’t stop me from doing what i want to do, so I decided to go outside and play soccer by myself to waste some time. But out of the corner of my eye i saw a tall old creature with a long beard and a robe, he looked very warned out and tired. He walked over to me as slow as a slug, then i ran into my house because i got scared. Suddenly my face was inside a bag and i was being carried, so i screamed for my life “HEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPP!!!!IM BEING KIDNAPED HHEEELLLPPP!!” No one heard me because the nearest road is about 2 hours away. I woke up in a cave and saw a man mixing something in a huge pot over a fire , it smelt like dead rats piled up in a hole.

Everyone’s personality is molded by their life experiences. Good or bad, what you experience in life makes you the person that you are. I am only 17 years old, but I can look back at events that happened over my lifetime and relate them to the person that I am today. I am a caring, positive, driven, grateful and hardworking, sister, friend, teammate and student.

Trying to get up used to be simple, now it’s an agonising rush of pain through my whole body, right from my head to the tip of my toes. The physio stands next to me, holding my arm as I grasp onto the bar next to me, to help steady my balance. All I think about now is the accident. How it all happened so fast - one minute I was overlooking the mountains with Ella, cuddled up in blankets enjoying the view, the next I woke up in hospital, when things took a turn for the worst. I guess Ella will be going to the Olympics without me, which doesn’t seem to bother her. The doctor said it’s a long road ahead, for my recovery. My stomach dropped as I felt the rush of anxiety starting to take over my body, bit by bit, as butterflies in my stomach grew. The hospital would be my 2nd home for a while. Getting rehab, seeing physios, regular check ups, this is my life now but it wasn’t the one I thought I would live. I am meant be on my way to Switzerland in a few months for the winter Olympics, but I cannot say that Ella seems to be upset about it at all.

After raising three children and twenty-five years of marriage, I found myself single and alone. Though I have always worked full time and maintained a home, navigating the single life was like a foreign language to me, and I struggled to find my comfort zone. I tried relaxing with friends, but found many of them were on a hunt of their own. Frequenting places that gave the appearance of a social function chalked full of fun, only to find late nights filled with alcohol and shallow connections. Over time, I realized I had lost my inner self. I didn’t know who I was or what brought me joy. I had been a wife and mother for so long, I didn’t know how to entertain myself. At times, I found myself unhappy with the life I created and pondered ways that I could change it. I knew I was different, I knew I needed more than social connections or late nights away from my home. I needed something for myself; to be needed, to have someone to care for, or better yet, a goal.

n I was 9 years old. I lived with my younger brothers james and my mother mary. We lived in Norwich on a farm. It was a beautiful place with fresh air and lots of crops.I had lived there my whole life until we had to move. One Day I was sitting in the kitchen cleaning the harvested vegetables for lunch and dinner when my mother came in saying we had to move immediately. She said that a rich man bought our land and we could no longer live there or work there. After a day in packing the next day we moved to manchester. My mother had heard there was jobs there and even me and my brother could work for some extra money.

It has been an eventful four years here at Christopher Dock. I went through a lot and I am proud of who I am becoming. I am not the shy, quiet and awkward kid that I was coming here but instead, I grew into a kind, confident and selfless individual ready to take on the world. Thanks to the adversity that I went through, I was rewarded with what I desire the most in this life: God, Friends and Family. The adversity that I had go through was letting go of my past, restoring my lost faith to God and stop being dependent onto my brother Tyler. Without doing those three things, I would not be where I am today. Now I would like to reflect on my growth throughout all of these four years.

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.

As time goes on, we have the fondest of memories, good and bad. As for now they are just mere images, far in the distance with little glimpses of what we did when we were younger. As for me, I have a good family who cares for me, we went to many places such as Washington D.C. where my family and I had to walk in the blazing sun, a little bit more walking would of killed us. I also had good friends who would help me along the way. Showing me how to live my life and showing me things I had not seen before. As time goes on, it is important why we have these types of memories, and that is because we made the choice to have those types of experiences. Not some so called fate, but the experiences we make is due to the free will we have over the situation. That is why every story is so unique, because trying to replicate would be so hard to do.

Unfortunately, it started Tuesday, May 10th, 2011, usually I go by my parent’s house before work and have coffee and donuts with my mother while we chit-chat about current events about our lives, but, I was running late for work that day.  Afterward, at 10:45 a.m. I started calling my mother’s cell phone but she never answered. At noon, my phone rang and I assumed it was her, but, it was my father. The minute I answered the phone I knew something was wrong. He uttered, “your mother and sister had an accident and the police officer said we must arrive at the hospital right away.” I could feel my gut at that very moment, my life just fell apart. I abandoned work and met up with my father at his house and we rode together, soon after we arrived a Florida Highway Patrol called us inside a small room and asked if we could identify the driver license. Regrettably, it was my mother, I could feel the tears flowing down my cheeks forming streams, my breathing was rapid and the walls were closing. The officer then stood up and gave us his sincere apologies. He indicated that my mother was pronounced dead at arrival and that my sister was inside the trauma part inside the hospital that the doctors were working with her now. I began screaming no and felt my father wrap his arms around my shoulders. Nonetheless, he did his best staying calm and strong for us. Next, we asked if we could visit my sister, but, he said he would ask the doctor and left the room. However, moments went by, I

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.

Despite how average my life has been thus far, especially compared to others, I have learned so much. Whether I was faced with minor complications or major decisions, I had much knowledge to gain. Regardless of the outcome of my actions, I simply reflected on what I had to learn and carried on. Because, regardless of whether I like it or not, time will continue forward, even if I’m not. If not my age, then it’s my experiences that define who I’ve grown to become.