Posts by 14apatton

14apatton

Dec 31, 2013

Undergraduate / Cluttered life - What matters to you, and why? 250 words or less [2]

Last year I read Walden. One quotation of Thoreau's stayed with me. "Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify!" I loved the thought but I didn't fully understand it until last August when I went on a backpacking trip in the High Sierras to fulfil a graduation requirement. Twenty-six days in the wilderness with nothing but our designated clothes, equipment, journal, and two ball point pens. Every morning we would wake up around six o' clock and hike anywhere from seven to fifteen miles. Hiking for hours every day with a sixty pound backpack on my back was physically, emotionally and mentally challenging. I had moments where I was miserable and my journal acted as a sense of comfort. I will never be able to put into words every single thing I learned out there, but one thing I can talk about is how being in the mountains finally enabled me to understand what Thoreau was talking about. I started realizing how cluttered my life is. After getting back, I realized you don't need an excess of things to survive daily life and to make you happy. All you need is food, shelter, and something to keep you warm at night. Ever since I returned, I've become more aware of my environment and the way I live my life. The beginning of my journal illustrates the old me and the middle shows the struggles I went through to get to the end of my journal...the new me.

250 words exactly. Thoughts? Comments? Anything would be appreciated. Thanks!

14apatton

Dec 31, 2013

Undergraduate / 'Dora the explorer' - the world you come from; your family, clubs, school, community, city [2]

This is what you have:
Every important lessons of my Life I learned from Dora the explorer...
I grow up in typical Kazakh family: parents working whole days to survive rather than live and 2-3 children. As my parents couldn't afford nannies or kindergarten with my siblings I spent my days at home watching tons of CDs. Among cartoons I'd watched I had my favorite one - Dora the explorer. Cheerful Latino girl with a love of embarking on quests partakes on activities accompanied by her friends. "Are you ready?!" she exclaimed and started journey to her goals overcoming every obstacle in her way caused by "Swiper" or other beings. Dora taught my young mind to cherish resilience and keep positive despite formidable challenges. Importantly, she always helped her friends to get out of the challenges, thereby, inspiring me to work for benefit of the society.

Yet, I've never before realized I had power to impact someone's life until this summer. "I need help to prepare to exams to get into high school, but my family can't afford tutor". Keeping words of my young neighbor in mind I decided to educate him myself. Everyday about a week we conquered the peaks of math and physics; I was pleasantly surprised when he got one of the highest scores.

After witnessing myself making positive change on someone's life, I've been determined to dedicate my Life making World a better place. As say Dora "What I do is far important than who I am!"

I would change it to:
Every important lessons of my Life I learned from Dora the explorer...
I grew up in typical Kazakh family. My parents worked the whole day to survive rather than live. Because my parents couldn't afford nannies or kindergarten , I spent my days at home with my siblings watching many shows. My favorite cartoon I watched was Dora the Explorer. The show depicted a Cheerful Latino girl with a love of embarking on quests with her friends. "Are you ready?!" she exclaimed at the start of each journey. Each show she had to overcome different obstacles in her way caused by "Swiper" a devious character who was out to get Dora. Dora taught my young mind to cherish resilience and keep a positive mindset despite formidable challenges. Importantly, she always helped her friends to get out of the challenges which has inspired me to work in a profession that benefits society.

Yet, I've never before realized I had power to impact someone's life until this summer. My neighbor said to me, "I need help to prepare for exams to get into high school, but my family can't afford a tutor." Keeping the message i learned from Dora in my mind, I decided to educate him myself. Everyday, we conquered the peaks of math and physics and I was pleasantly surprised when he got an incredible score. After seeing myself make a positive change in someone's life, I've been determined to dedicate my life to making the world a better place. As would say, "What I do is far more important than who I am!"

14apatton

Dec 31, 2013

Undergraduate / My adventure has started at last; BackgroundStory(exchange student) [6]

"At last, we all will have gone our ways in life, but it's what we do with it that makes the difference."

to

"At last, we all will have gone our different ways in life, but it's what we do with the experience that makes the difference."