Personal Narrative Essay

The next morning I woke up pressed against the wall, my hair in disarray around my head and my shirt bunched up on the sides. I lifted myself up and groggily rubbed my eyes before doing the usual.

“Trick or treat!” I say, nearly breathless. The pencils in my hair are slipping, my bathrobe is stifling, and we’re running out of time. “We’re with the Key Club, and we’re trick or treating for canned goods to donate to the food pantry. Do you have anything that you’d be willing to donate?”

I was in second grade and excited to begin the new school year. When I tried to greet two new students, both large boys, they stared at me and burst into sarcastic, menacing laughter, taunting me with the derogatory term “chocolate boy.” As the days went by, other students took up this taunting and then it moved to physical intimidation. I had a clear sense that danger was imminent, and I began to feel a terrible sense of vulnerability. It was at this point that I decided, after my parents’ suggestion, to learn some method of self-defense.

My entire childhood I lived with my maternal grandparents. My grandpa drove a truck and was only home on weekends, while my grandma stayed home with me. I had the same rotating schedule for visiting my mom, I stayed the entire month of June, a week in october, a week in January, and if it was an odd year I went to stay on all major holidays. My life was fairly predictable until the day my grandparents decided to divorce.

The sweet, potent aroma of cinnamon scented broom sticks fills the room as a toffee colored chihuahua barks it’s larynx off--that’s how I know I’m at my mema’s house. My mema resides in a small cottage two hours away from my house, but her house feels like more of a home than mine ever has.

I think the best way to use my time more efficiently is to plan out what I need to do for the day. Creating a to-do list in advance makes it easier to decide on which tasks are the most important. I usually base their importance on due date or amount of time required to finish it. I also realized that I have to plan a certain time of each day to study for my exams, instead of just focusing on homework. The biggest obstacle for me is spending too much time with my friends. For example, one time my friends wanted to go bowling, but I had a lot of homework to do and a paper to write. However, I realized that to improve, I have to also understand that I do not have to spend every waking moment with them. In other words, just because I miss something,

Peru is a beautiful place to visit. Several years ago, my dad was deported back to Peru, his home country. A few years ago my sister and I wanted to go and visit him in Peru. Well, on the day we had left to the airport around five in the morning, we never thought that we would be able to see him. When my sister and I got to the airport, we checked in and cleared all the security. Soon after, we said our goodbyes to our parents and we boarded the plane. The excitement was uncontainable, as if we were little kids going to a theme park. We never thought we would actually be able to go and see him in another country. A few minutes later, we were on the runway awaiting the clearance for takeoff. The thrust from the plane’s jets were incredible, like driving for the first time.¬¬

I was genuinely surprised I didn’t have to wake up earlier. My flight left from Los Angeles at 10am, and I was to arrive in Scotland in the afternoon of the next day due to time zone differences. My Uber driver was asking me tons of questions on the way to the airport, and personally, I like to play a game whenever I’m in an Uber; it’s called “Who Am I?” That day, I was a college student going back to St Andrews University, I had previously researched it when I considered majoring in English, so I had all answers at my disposal. I arrive at the airport and there are practically no lines for TSA, leaving me to wander around the airport for an hour before my flight is called. No matter what time of day, airports have always been surreal to me. It feels like time doesn’t exist, and there is an overwhelming

The water was green and murky, with no telling which area was safe to jump into. The wind was still and cold, surely the water would be ten times colder. I have dreaded it all day, the end of the hike. Nervous I took steps closer to the verge of the cliff. I looked off the edge in disbelief that anyone would willingly jump off. Only a select few would decide to make the jump, and one of them was me.

I was quite young when my mum sat me down with my sister and told us we were going to be moving countries and live in Scotland. Quite honestly, I did not have a clue where Scotland was or what it was like…but I had high hopes it was a place so exceptional and unusual that I could ride a kangaroo to school and I’d live in a desert or right next to a beach. Basically, I hoped we were moving to Australia but, to my frustration, my bubble of imagination was quickly popped as my mum described it as, “nearly identical to Poland, but better and colder”. I had mixed feelings about it as I couldn’t really understand why we were moving but I trusted my mum in making the right decision as I couldn't really comprehend just how much that decision would

The color of the bright orange paper on my door captured my eyes as it waved in the wind. The eviction notice was scheduled for Monday, December 14th, 2008 two days before my ninth birthday. It wasn't my place to worry, so I handed it to my mother and continued on with my day. No one spoke about the notice for three days. On the afternoon of the 14th I got off the bus and saw our belongings outside the apartment.,It was at that moment I knew that the orange paper was something to have been worried about. We left eight years of memories behind in that apartment and built two months of new memories in a shelter.

In my father’s view, the foundation of good selling consisted of three building blocks: knowing that you are the product your customers really need to buy, creating relationships with your customers and letting the sales process flow from that bond, and finding the unique qualities within yourself that you can offer to help your customers. So far, his assignments had effectively opened my eyes to the first two building blocks; now it was time for me to learn about the third.

The time was currently 8:00 a.m. when I heard my alarm go off. I tried my best to ignore it about three times when I realized I must have something to do that's really important that I had to set up an alarm. I finally realized that my sister, Gabriela, and I had to go to the mall to purchase a dress for our cousin’s party. I got up, turned the alarm off, and went to her room.

Cheers for my favorite e-sport team in the scene has been my unrealistic, but a beautiful dream. Shouting, cheering, and expecting, all the actions and feelings penetrated the screen and shoot into my heart as an arrow with fire. E-sport is unrealistic to some people, but it is the part of reality for me.

I lived in a large, goth house on the outskirts of Wimbledon, Massachusetts. My family and I had called this house our home for nearly 18 years. In our home there was constantly something happening, but none of which we were responsible for. Doors flying open and shut, voices yelling, stomping. Everything in the house scattering. I was alone there a lot because both my parents worked which means I cared for the house. I was constantly petrified.