Undergraduate / 'In love with the sky' - Main essay. Influential experience in ur life [21]

im trying so hard to get into university of washington. i know that essay is very important and im trying so hard to make my best shot. i would appreciate it if you leave a comment.

by the way this is not the completed essay, im almost half way through this. still i would like to know you ideas.
thank you so much for caring.

what is an experience in your life that helped to shape your character?

so this is the last draft. i tried to shorten it (651 words now) and relate my movement to listening skills somehow. i hope it works. thanks for ur comments, they really helped, couldnt have done this without you.:)

Since I was a child, I have always been in love with the sky. The world behind the blue has always been a mystery; something both unknown and admirable. I had so much thirst for something new and untouched; I always wanted to go beyond the world that I knew, leave earth, experience new things, risk and discover. Well, unfortunately, it took me 16 years to understand that I don't need to pass the atmosphere to do so, not necessarily. Actually, it is all here on earth. It has always been.

When I was born my parents named me Newsha -meaning "a good listener" in Persian- and 13 years later, in middle school, I realized there was a gift given to me wrapped in my name: "It seemed like I really was a good listener." Soon I found myself listening to people who didn't have anyone but me to listen to them, and helping them as much as I could. I heard about other sides of people; the side that was always hidden to others because of either shyness or shame. I found a great joy in helping each of them, feeling more happiness than they would as I saw them succeed.

I started to discover people instead of the world by looking into the corners of their minds. I saw the world through their eyes, helped them find what they needed and in the process of doing so, I myself found a whole new world inside each person, a world much greater than the earth and the skies.

But this was only the first part of this understanding, the second part came when I got involved in a real geographical movement. In November of 2007, I moved to United States with my family in order to seek a better life and better educational opportunities. I never opposed to this decision of my parents, though I knew it meant leaving all I have ever had behind: my friends, my school, my relatives and my homeland. But that part of me that always longed for new worlds didn't let the sadness of this departure stop me from doing it.

Moving and leaving everything behind is hard, but accepting your new life is even harder. It is like having a black hole right in the middle of your life, a black hole that sucks all your memories and beloved people into it, and at last it leaves you hollow "you have to stuff yourself again." You have to create yourself anew, and I was no exception; black holes never leave anything behind.

There I met ME "a girl who didn't know much about herself." I was used to see myself in the mirror of my friends, but now that they weren't with me I felt lost. However I saw this as an opportunity instead of a problem -an opportunity to take a look at my own self, to find out about the sides that I never showed, and they were never reflected, I started to listen to my voice this time. After a year now, I still don't know much about myself, I think I'm just at the very first steps of this learning. Each person is a vast world; it takes a lifetime to discover the truth of a person.

Now, I still love the sky. After all this time, sky is still gorgeous and mysterious, but I don't think I would want to leave earth anymore, not as long as there are still people out there, millions of them; people that I can love, people that I can help, and people that I can be friends with. I think it will be a shame if I never dare to go out, find them and hold their hands.

I would like to stay on earth with people and their unique worlds.
Galaxies and stars? They will always have time for me.