Undergraduate / 'season's training' - Common Application-Taekwondo Spirits [4]

Standing in the center of the dojang(the place to practice taekwondo) and dressing in my all white dobok(the uniform) and colored dhee(the belt), I am now a Taekwondoer.

The first time I went into this dojang, our instructor Mr. Zhan bowed to us and asked us to look around and remember those taekwondo spirits written on the wall. I didn't take it seriously, because I thought I was here just for some exercises. However, practicing taekwondo was much more than I thought it would be. During those days of January while people needed to sparkle salt on the road to prevent traffic accident, Zhan warned us not to wear anything else but our doboks, and shouted "Don't stop" hundreds of times after getting us run about 3 kilometers, when we were miserably tired and cold. However, I thought that was exercising and it could be beneficial. People always say the end of something is the beginning of another. Tugging our numb legs and frozen feet, we really began our taekwondo training. Despite the afterward sore muscles, the punching and kicking moves are nothing for us. But the stretching, lengthening ligaments, was much more challenging. Scream and cry haunted in our dojang everyday, and Zhan kept pushing our legs closer and closer to our faces.

Most students never showed up again after finishing a season's training and left their dhees white forever. But I stayed, because I wanted to take the rank test. While the dojang was silent and everything staying in that room was stiffly lonely, the squabby punching bag tasted my fists and splits, and the foamed plastic flooring almost had my foot prints on its face. I could see through the windows that the sky outside the dojang was withered and pale, but I was lively and fiery inside, like a flame. I screamed out loud when stretching, and laughed out loud every time I made some progress.

The test date came. On the center of the large flooring stood only the examiner and I. Two meters away from him, hardly could I do any moves wrong without being noticed. Silence overflowed, and the solemnity cut everything like a sharp blade. My epinephrine rushed and nervousness arose. It seemed the only thing existed in this room was my heart beat. I pushed really hard, probably beyond my capability, when I showed the stretching moves in front of the examiner. Finally his smile told me that I passed. My muscle was trembling and the pain inflated, but I kept at the position of stretching, and let the hurting be. Suddenly I found that I was addicted to this pain, this lasting but satiating and refreshing pain, which reminded me of all the solid effort of mine, all the exertion of Mr. Zhan's and all the hours that the bag was punched and the flooring was trampled. After a while, I stood up, bowed to the examiner and bowed to Mr. Zhan, gladly.

I do not only practice taekwondo while I am free, but only while I am practicing taekwondo, I am freed. I can explore and meditate. I found that I can be in high spirits even if every thing around me is gray; I found that I can get happiness even if I endure great pain; I also found that I can keep taekwondo spirits in heart even if doing it was not my original aim.

Standing in the center of the dojang and dressing in my all white dobok and colored dhee, I read those taekwondo spirits written on the wall sonorously: Courtesy. Integrity. Perseverance. Self-control. Indomitable spirit.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------
any advice?

ahead of time, thank you guys! =]

Undergraduate / Dickinson College Supplement-We Don't Belong to Ourselves [NEW]

Dickinson College founder, statesman and physician Benjamin Rush wrote several essays on education for this new nation. Listed below are three of Rush's philosophies. Choose one and explain how that philosophy relates to your talents, goals and the reasons you chose to apply to Dickinson.

Dickinson students shall understand that they don't belong to themselves.

any suggestion's welcome!!!!

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."--Martin Luther King Jr.

I rushed from my hotel room. But all I saw when I got on the street was his jaded figure, wrapped by layers of rags, moving like a ghost. The big black bag that he was dragging was chafed by the ground, making high frequency noises. Three gray doves came,smelled over those pieces of trash that he didn't gather into his bag and flew away. Gradually, the road turn from cold gray to beige and then little orange, yet his face was never warmed by the sunshine, because he never looked up.

I was chilled on that warm summer morning in Los Angeles. A yong man with fine suit accidentally knocked down (don't know if this is the good phrase to use)the homeless' bag, a big black bag, left a "sorry" on the road without even look at that poor man, let alone help him gather his stuff. And instead the young man checked his cellphone and rushed away. I never thought a city named angel would ever lack careness or love.

"I want to be a columnist." I wrote, when Collegeboard posted a question about goals and dreams to all registers. Besides those cliche reasons like "loving it" and "being good at it", I deem I want to kick numbness that drowned our souls and nature away and grab awareness that supposed to be inherent back. I felt the loneliness and complaint in my cousin's heart when her parents were busy at work and left only the dark sky and moon to company her. I also taseted the bitter and sadness in the breeze when my friends and I kept getting rejected by those rich entrepreneneurs when we tried to gather some help for the dropouts in a remote area in our province.

If we look around, we'll find that people search for different means to save more time but we only get less time to give even a glance at things that happened around us; people invent various transportations to shorter the distances but we only get farther from one another; people try divers ways to earn greater wealth but we only spend smaller amount of money on things that matter. Some of us are becoming increasingly self-centered, hiding under the cold armors, and forget that we, as human, a species living on the earth, belong to our family and friends, our community and the world.

I once doubted if there are other people, grown-ups who won't be called naive, have the same wish, because as I grew older more and more people around me send me this message that the is how we survive in the modern-day society and this is how things work. But Mr. Benjamin Rush's will of making Dickinson College a place "offering education not for its own sake, but to be useful in furthering a just democratic society" gave me hope. I found exactly the place where I belong to, where students become extraordinary scholars and people who can make the world a better place, a warmer one , a more loving home for everyone, at the same time. Dickinson College is the home for people like me who believe that we should inquery and take our citizen responsibilities. And in this regard I cordially hope that I can become one of the group of people who spread sunshine and warmess all over the world, and most importantly, who have faith that we ought to serve our soecity and we don't belong to ourselves.

Undergraduate / IWU-Illinois Wesleyan University Supplement [6]

Prompt:In one paragraph, please describe your specific interest in attending IWU.
no word limit, but should be only one paragraph.

Thanks ahead of time for helping me if you can. :D
When I browsed the Academic Major and Programs page of IWU web-site, I thought God they offer the most choices for students among all those fine Liberal arts colleges, ranging from Accounting to Piano in Music. I am a person with multiple interests. I love Math and Writing and foreign languages and have beening playing the Piano for over 13 years. I've always wanted to become a well-rounded student. In this regard, I can undoubtedly reach my full potential with professors' guidance and personal attention in IWU, a place where versatility is encouraged. Also, the May Term program attracted my attention the first time I read about it. It gives students the chance to explore and exercise, to muse and meditate, to have a taste of what life is really like and to feel things close to us by heart. It can turn immature students into seasoned scholars and helpful citizens. Thus I am eager to get involved in all these kinds of practice which combines academic knowledge, life experience and spiritual inspiration. The third thing I love about IWU is the attention to sports. Doing sports makes me feel lively and fiery and I always find ways to do exercises. When I found that the IWU Titans ranked seventh among all colleges and universities in number of athletes who honored Academic All-America and IWU sports teams hold top ranking positions nationally I knew that IWU is the place where I can feel my burning youth.