My Personal Experience : My Experience In My Life

We are interested in learning more about you and the context in which you have grown up, formed your aspirations, and accomplished your academic successes. Please describe the factors and challenges that have most shaped your personal life and aspirations. How have these factors helped you to grow? (800)

Over the span of my lifetime, I have had many life changing experiences. From good to bad every aspect has shaped me and made me the person I am today. The biggest challenge and experience I have had is tearing my MCL multiple times. I never realized how much of a challenge it would be going through surgery, rehab, and the overall complications of a recurring injury. Tearing my MCL made me learn how to overcome obstacles and helped me work harder than I ever had to bounce back from the injury.

I look up to see a smiling baby with blue eyes, so sweet and innocent. Who knew life would throw these obstacles at us. Only a few days old and her future began to become unclear, already having to go through life changing surgeries. Everybody has a personal experience, some happy while others are not as joyful. Sometimes all you can do is hope that there is a chance things can go your way. But the hardest part is staying strong for those you love.

“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.

It was a beautifully clear day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky when I received that green and gold folder in the mail. I thought coming to college would be the answer to everything. However, that feeling of being a strong independent black woman only lasted so long. My first year was just fine, I thought that I'd adjusted fine. I made plenty of friends on campus and joined numerous cubs! I even got my first real job working at Busch Gardens. Everything was going great, that was until August of my second year.

For an individual to be a success, they must possess qualities beyond intellect. To flourish in your career and in life, your character must move you toward your aspirations. Throughout life, several experiences have formed me into a person of resilience, empathy, and composure. Such qualities have allowed me to reach my goals and serve my community. In addition to my intelligence, these qualities render me an exceptional student and employee.

I think that all of my lifes experiences even the hardships have defined how I've grown and matured. I've been told my times that I used to be a crazy, hyperactive kid growing up. That I used to not be able to sit still and constantly got into trouble. Some of the stories of I remember and some I think we're a little exaggerated from the truth. For the ones I do remember are the ones that I will remember for my whole life. Such as the times I would come home with bruises and cuts from day camp or the one of the many times I was sent to the my pre school's principal's office for causing trouble. Or the scar on my forehead that is constantly reminding me of my past self. And I wouldn't want any of my past to change, because it has taught me many lessons. Eventually as I got older my personality definitely was shaped by the friends I hung out with. My class in middle school was noticeably split up into those stereotypical school groups: athletes, gamers, gangsters/ delinquents,and the misfits. I spent my middle school time as a part of almost all of the groups. At the beginning I felt like being part of the athletes would make me popular, but I soon found out most of them were too full of themselves. I like playing sports and winning along side my teammates, but they stayed known as my teammates and not friends. Later I starting hanging out with the gamers and it was probably the most fun I had during my middle school years. Most of them became great friends of mine and I

Even through the darkest days we survive as one. I witnessed those dark days, but I also saw the bright and through it all I evolved into who I am today. I encountered one of my biggest obstructions when I was a child. I was born into a family that had immigrated to America from Mexico. Although my parents had been in the country for quite some time, they never adapted to the American lifestyle. All I knew was Spanish and my first year of school would soon come. I would sit at the end of my driveway and listen to the variety of sounds that slowly crept into my ear, triggered a reaction and sent confusion running through my mind. Day after day, I would sit there trying to decode this puzzle word by word and the day came when I’d be shipped off to school where I was expected to know English. Kindergarten was one of the hardest years in my life. I struggled tremendously. I was the last one to know my address, I was the last one to know my phone number, and I was the one who almost failed his first year of school. If it wasn’t for my father not allowing the school to hold me back, I could have become a completely different person. I struggled throughout my years in elementary school. I went to resource and

Throughout life, incidents will always occur. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey. Through these incidents you are given the opportunity to learn about yourself and others. I have found that sometimes the worst things in life can teach me the most about my strengths, weaknesses, as well as about how to live life. For instance, when my father (papa) passed away in October, 2010 from a weak heart.

I spent most of my days immersed in a fantasy world while curled up with a science fiction book on my big brown couch in my living room. If I wasn't reading, I would be drawing cartoons, watching movies, teaching myself random skills on YouTube tutorials, or singing loudly along to my favorite songs. Activities like these filled my youthful and solitary days as I patiently awaited my parents to return home from work.

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

The last four years of my life were definitely some for the books. With ups and downs, I was learning no matter what. I was learning how to deal with myself personally, my peers, my family, my financial situation, and my academic situation. I also taught myself that it was better to be alone than to be with the wrong group of friends. That being said, it is not always bad to be hanging out with the “wrong” people.

Last weekend my beautiful friend Yamuna was married in a storm of confetti and colour and I have never experienced anything like it. The air was close and we spent the weekend in a haze of heat and sunshine, sleeping on a rooftop under the stars and celebrating their love. (I can't explain just how special it is to know that our first Indian marriage was the love marriage of such a dear friend).  We travelled out to her village- a nine hour drive from Hyderabad- by semi-sleeper bus. The adventures began early, as at quarter past four in the morning the bus stopped and we all got off to stretch our legs. Outside the sky was clear, icy black with abundant stars. We trailed behind a group of sari-clad women down a dusty street in the darkness, not entirely sure of where we were, looking for a washroom. We passed a building and one of them said "It is open only." Naively I think this means the bathroom is inside, and unlocked. It turned out that in rural India "open" doesn't mean unlocked but non-existent. We walk further down, and suddenly about a dozen of these sari-clad women squat together, to do their business on a quiet patch of the roadside. I think it's fair to say that whatever I thought culture shock was when I first arrived here was nothing to what I felt last weekend. Everything was so different to our Hyderabad home. It felt like I was relearning how to conquer India all over again.

That morning had been such a drag. I had my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th hour classes before lunch. Then, I had my 5th and 6th hour classes next. You would think everything would be wonderful on the first day of school, right? Well it’s not. I might have tripped a kid; he was calling me names and tried to steal some of my nice pencils. So I tripped him in the hallway. I wish I would have talked to someone, but I never did. That’s how my morning went, didn’t talk to one other kid. Not even the mean kid, at least it was lunchtime. I walked into the cafeteria and could smell the aroma of pizza flow into my nose. I wished I could have some, but I did not have any money. I was wearing my ripped and torn jeans along with my faded green t-shirt. Everyone else had on his or her shiny new shoes and colorful new shirts. I slowly walked over to grab my paper lunch bag. It contained apple slices, a sandwich, chips, and a juice box. Lucky me.

Everybody has a diverse environment in which they grew up in, and it is unique to the individual, never to be replicated. I have experienced this sense of variance first hand. Growing up with a father birthed in Syria and a mother from the coast of Long Beach, California, my childhood was, to say the least, interesting. However, everything that happened from my birth until now, all made me who I am today, someone I am very proud to have become after these seventeen years.