Undergraduate / Teaching under Heartbreaking Circumstances [6]

PROMPT: Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

"My mom likes it that I come here, she says I learn twice as much in these four hours than during the entire school week". - Ian, 8 years old.

Valentina ran towards me and hugged my legs the instant I stepped through the threshold. I embraced her tight, and as I did, the rest of the kids began chanting my name as a sign of welcome. While I admired each of their faces, the fondness and affection I felt towards them only increased with each visage. Contentment and serenity overflow my persona every time I take that first step into the room. They make waking up at seven am on a Saturday incredibly worthwhile. Teaching them to read and write is unambiguously pleasurable, especially since I know how much they appreciate all of my hard work and effort. Whilst the other two volunteers and I provide them with the only valid education they receive, they allow us a glimpse of their underprivileged and humble reality, an insight that makes me all the more grateful for my possessions.

We have classes in a dim, low ceilinged and narrow room made out of unpainted hardwood lumber, with not even a toilet available. One of the two wooden tables placed in the center of the room is crooked and falling apart while the other is generally overcrowded due to our minor safety precautions. Coming across a rat wouldn't be a rare event either, since a grand majority of the families living nearby have no other place to deposit their trash other than on the open field next to our trivial settlement. Yet, regardless of our precarious conditions, all twenty of our students still enjoy attending the weekly lessons, as do I.

In Villa Rosa, the only requirements that the kids demand from me are affection, presence, and a small fragment of my knowledge. By providing them with these qualities, I am awarded with mutual love and fondness as well as a feeling of immense satisfaction that makes the subsequent week endurable. In order to help you comprehend my Saturdays in Villa Rosa, an ideal example of how I view our unpretentious classroom is as the closet of Narnia. Similarly to this fictitious object, when I step inside our small shed, all of the responsibilities and complications I have had to endure during the week are left behind, and I am giving strengths for the following week awaiting me.

Valentina, Antonella, Ián, Nicolás, Mario, Exequiel, Yazmin, as well as the rest of the children are extremely capable and special individuals, which is another reason as to why I adore enhancing their intellect as well as providing them with more appropriate moral standards. Every single pupil needs someone to help him or her comprehend that stealing, burning cars, among other criminalities their parents commit, are all improper actions. I might burden myself with quite a variety of roles, but I revel in the overwhelming responsibility because I know they deserve all the love and care I devote towards them.

In my own conceit, the primary reason to my contentment when I provide school support is due to the fact that I feel as if I were doing a lot more than simply helping students with their homework. By providing the least fortunate with such a modest service, I experience a feeling of self-realization and fulfillment on account of the belief that I am assisting my country in providing a service every child deserves, a proper education. Moreover, I have the deepest feelings of affection for my students, helping them grow is hardly a punishment, on the contrary, it is one of the small pleasures life has granted me with.

Undergraduate / UF is my way of declaring that I will not settle for less, I am destined to live "The Good Life" [2]

We often hear the phrase 'the good life'. In fact, the University of Florida's common course required of all undergraduate students is titled "What is the Good Life?". The concept of 'the good life' can be interpreted in many different ways depending upon the experiences, values and aspirations of each individual.

In a concise narrative, describe your notion of 'the good life'. How will your undergraduate experience at the University of Florida prepare you to live 'the good life'?

The intermittent sound of the buzzer rang throughout all of the rooms in the apartment. My aunt's boyfriend's screams could be heard from the ground floor; his repetitive phrase "I want my son" drowning out the car's complaining horns. I glanced at my grandmother inactive in the kitchen table, her teary-eyed face completely heartbreaking. Sitting on the wooden chair next to hers, I tried to show my support by taking hold of her feeble hand. When she felt my touch, she locked her eyes on my worried gaze and whispered: "Ori, life is complicated and keep in mind that there will never be a shortage of obstacles. Remember this: only do what satisfies you, and never settle for less." It was due to my grandmother's words that I decided to apply to UF.

From the time I was six, to when I turned 12, I had been living in Doral, Miami. My lifestyle during those 6 years was what I would call "The Good Life". My school was a leading institution in the district. My outstanding qualifications had earned me an award signed by George W. Bush recognizing my impressive dedication. I was enrolled in the soccer team and was constantly praised for my skills and commitment. In my art school, I had been chosen for a special program in which only the optimal pupils were admitted. Unfortunately, when the time came, I was given the news that we were to move back to Argentina.

I knew Argentina wasn't the country where I would reach my full potential, which is how I measure whether or not I am living "The Good Life". For me, the definition of the mentioned concept is to live life in its most thorough and complete manner, to provide the world with your best qualities and skills in order to improve not merely your lifestyle, but the lifestyle of others as well. Given Argentina's restricting economic policies and close-minded beliefs, such as the view of soccer as a men's sport, I felt constantly regulated.

The discussion I had with my grandmother that night was the missing push I needed in order to apply to UF. The University of Florida will doubtlessly provide me with all of the tools necessary in order to acquire my outright capability. Applying to UF is my way of declaring that I will not settle for less, I am destined to live "The Good Life".

Undergraduate / A one-way Road; I try to recall every second of my past journey and its eccentricities [2]

Prompt: Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end."
― Ernest Hemingway

Four days of intermittent walking and I somehow reached an incomparable state of bliss and pleasure in the midst of all the blisters and suffering. Whether what made the peregrination so exquisite was the sense of importance I felt whenever I provided others with what I considered to be viable advice or perhaps the invaluable hours I spent familiarizing myself, nevertheless what generated me such an aura of content will eternally be a mystery. Uncountable were the particularities of said journey that pinpointing a specific reason to the enchanting atmosphere would mean decomposing the whole of the scenery.

Regardless of the fact that I don't consider the landscape to be the core reason as to why I felt so alleviated during the peregrination, there is no denying the ceaseless beauty of the trails. Whether the days were obscure or radiant was impossible to tell thanks to the roof of greenery that towered over our heads intermittently, minute rays of sunlight seeping their way through the canopy as the wind shook the leaves that sheltered us. As I strolled on the unpaved roads in the midst of the country, the dirt of the lanes oozed its way into my shoes and stuck to the back of my throat. My ears were filled with nature's harmonious sounds, the occasional rosary being prayed, and more often than not, the playing of a guitar with the voices of those who traveled beside me joining the choir. Infants, adolescents, mothers, fathers, grandparents, ex-rehabbers, ex-convicts, nuns, priests, we walked together and shared the same sporadic emotions, we came together in prayer and cared for one another when in suffering.

As a child I was told that out of the deep depths of misfortune comes bliss. These were words I had never come to comprehend until my walk to San Nicolas. The misfortunes I had to undergo during my journey, the fatigue, the pain, the thirst, the weather, all culminated in an exquisite feeling of satisfaction and pride that were the motivation that kept me going. Some of the pleasure, for instance, came from the perpetual atmospheric feel of companionship that indulged me endlessly and lead me to believe I was part of something otherworldly. As we peregrinated, many anecdotes were swapped and several words of advice and wisdom were bartered amongst us. I remember vividly the emotion of gratification that would sure through me whenever I delivered any set of advice that my companion described as helpful. The mere belief that my words might have provided guidance to another individual filled me with contempt. In my family I am known as 'the wise child', the adviser of most, and fulfilling that same purpose in another environment was an immense delight.

Coming to know who I was, my faults as well as my assets, also contributed to the perfection of the journey. I had several moments of solitude in which I came to understand how others saw me and how I saw myself as well. I uncovered my adventurous personality, the constant inclination I have towards experiencing new escapades. I came to terms with my denial towards situations I consider unjust. It was during this journey when I truly found myself. After seventeen years, I came to know myself in the most profound way possible.

I count the days until the 21st of September, when the peregrination starts. Whenever my day is going south, I try to recall every second of my past journey and its eccentricities. I remember serving water and the grateful expressions; I remember carelessly screaming out of the top of my lungs the pious lyrics whenever a guitar was playing. And so I retain, these invaluable memories that have penetrated themselves into my heart, casting everlasting happiness upon their remembrance.