Undergraduate / UChicago "Tell us about your favorite.." Essay [5]

This is my essay for one of my uchicago supplements. I know this one isn't weighed as heavily but still I wanted a second opinion :) Any critiques are welcomed.

Prompt: Share with us a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, blogs, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own.

A habit that I've acquired is listening to the soundtracks of movies over and over again. Practicing Ballet for years I've had to convey emotion with the help of music without actually speaking, in movies it's the job of the score to do the same. In every movie, there is always that one scene where the actor or actress is completely silent, sometimes not even moving, but you as the watcher understand every emotion, action, and phrase they want to say because of the music in the background. My favorite example of this has to be "Brush on Silk" from the "Memoirs of a Geisha" soundtrack. In the scene a jealous Geisha manipulates a younger Hangyoku named Chiyo to paint all over the prized silk kimono of a fellow successful Geisha and then place it in her room. The young girl confused and scared does as she told, her strokes light, just like the music, only to get heavier as the song becomes more intense. As the intensity of the music becomes stronger and stronger she walks up the stairs of her victim's room and finally gets caught. This emotional ability that "Brush on Silk" has always left me amazed and jealous. The fluttering of the flutes and the plucking of the traditional instruments told me everything the little nine year old Hangyoku was thinking. Her fear, her regret, her lack of options, it was all understood. On the same note the composition always left me envious. As a dancer the ultimate achievement in skill is to express with your body what words might, and this score does just that. Repeatedly I've listened to try and learn how to improve my own expression. It's a beautiful piece that I have enjoyed listening to as well as learning from and will forever be one of my favorite pieces of music.

Undergraduate / Bryn Mawr: What will I gain? [3]

I kinda feel iffy about the flow of the last two paragraphs and I think there are some colon and comma usage mistakes that I need to clean up ,but all opinions are welcomed and I'll be more than happy to edit essay's if needed.

Secret Experiences

Please attach an essay of no more than one page telling us what you think you would gain from the educational experience at Bryn Mawr and what you would contribute to the community.

I was about eight years old when I can truly say I was dumb struck. At eight years old I shouldn't have had anything to become dumbstruck about, aside from the usual: trying to avoid eating the green disaster that is broccoli, making Barbie perform a critical open heart surgery on Ken while getting ready for the ball, playing outside until the very last second before it got dark, I thought there was nothing. With my eyes wide and mouth open even wider, I watched a couple have what seemed like a normal friendly conversation that strangely enough, I could not follow. Sounds that I had never heard before rolled off of their tongues easily, naturally. My ears greedily snatched every syllable causing my own tongue to try and mimic their "secret code", but the more I tried to follow the more lost I became. Frustratingly curious and filled with a mixture of candy and tremendous eight year old energy I marched up to the couple and asked "Can you pretty please teach me what you are saying?"

Since that day, language, culture, and diversity have become extremely important to me. Living in a country referred to as the "melting pot" not many can say that they have been exposed or even have tried to explore languages, or customs different from their own. Even just trying a meal would be enough. Not only have I never seen anyone turn down free food, but also once it's eaten, the questions begin and indirectly you become exposed to the traditions, stories, and languages associated with it. That experience, as tiny as it may be, can be the beginning of awareness and acceptance; two beautiful and equally important traits as not just a diverse student but as a human being.

At Bryn Mawr I want to meet other passionate students that think like me, think differently from me, even those that are in between, so that I can use those experiences to foster complete awareness and acceptance, that at ten years and many cultures later, I haven't found yet. Although my passion for culture is strong, my interest in each had to do with the warm and friendly people I have associated with them. Bryn Mawr's students, even those that I have accidently bumped into years after they have graduated, are just as warm and friendly, which for a Texas native planning to leave home for four years (and her parents) is reassuring.

What I truly expect from Bryn Mawr is to become dumb struck once again. Never has it happened since that day and only in the most mind-blowing, life changing experiences will it happen again. This could mean a new way of learning, teaching, or thinking. This could also mean a new friendship, community, or environment. Whichever it may be I am sure Bryn Mawr College will leave me with those wonderful eye widening, mouth dropping experiences with the hopes that for others, I can do the same.