Undergraduate / JHU supplement.. needs some fine tuning [3]

hey! i need some help with this essay.. esp the last paragraph
any suggestions?

Johns Hopkins offers 50 majors across the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering. On this supplement, we ask you to identify one or two that you might like to pursue here. Why did you choose the way you did? If you are undecided, why didn't you choose? (If any past courses or academic experiences influenced your decision, you may include them in your essay.)

I look around my room and immediately spot souvenirs from four different countries: a blue bag from Bali, a colorful scarf from Italy, wooden bangles from India and a picture frame from Singapore. My ardor to experience other cultures had led me across the globe; however, the most valuable item I brought back cannot be stashed in a suitcase and sent through a baggage check. Through my travels I have attained an intangible wisdom distinct to every culture and lessons unique to each community on the globe.

At Johns Hopkins University, I will pursue a major in International Studies because I crave an education that satisfies these understandings. The International Studies program transcends boundaries to explore a global education; crossing paths into political science, history, economics, and foreign language. I especially like that the program places an integral importance on foreign language. Two summers ago, I volunteered at SOS Children's Village, a "family facility" for homeless children. I was asked to teach a class in Spoken English to a group of girls who were familiar with the English language, but shy to communicate their skills verbally. Because of my fluency in Malayalam (a dialect of South India), my students trusted me, knowing that if they struggled with English, I would offer encouragement in their native tongue. Knowing a second language bonded me to these girls; it accurately emphasized our similarities rather than our differences.

The International Studies Program recognizes language as a driving force that connects nations, communities, and people. As a student in the program I hope to learn and practice another language with the same ardor I learned Malayalam as a child. Travelling the world and picking up another dialect has been an inspiring seventeen-year journey, finally leading me to choose a major at JHU. I view International Studies as the beginning to a rich and worldly education.

Undergraduate / "I love airports." - common app essay [10]

hey everyone Im applying to college this fall and am having sooo much trouble writing this essay.. this is a really rough draft so whatever advice is totally welcome. thanks so much! (btw its common app prompt #6 topic of your own)

I love airports. I love the fact that airports are full of people going places, attempting exciting things, maybe even embarking on adventure that very well might change their lives. Just stepping through the doors of an airport, the atmosphere is think with excitement and diversity: There is the lady travelling with her two kids, balancing her baby in one hand and her boarding pass in the other; there is the business man dressed in a suit, briefcase beside him, waiting in the line labeled first class exclusively; then there is me, sitting on my carry on, surrounded by the fifteen suitcases (not exaggerating) that my family and I will need for the next three months in India. You wont be able to miss me because I'm the one grinning from cheek to cheek, whom amidst all the chaos, is completely at peace. I think it's the diversity of culture and color that makes the airport such an inviting place for me. I know it's the one place where I can go to feel like I belong.

Growing up I was never thrilled when a new teacher stumbled over my first name, and didn't even bother to attempt my last. It bothered me that as an American people had so much trouble accepting this very things that gave me identity in the world. In India I stood out with lighter skin and freckles that are unheard of on Indian girls. It annoyed me that there would never be a group of people I could blend in with physically. Neither here nor there, I wondered in limbo until my first trip to the airport that blew my mind. Clutching my dad's hand, my adolescent eyes grew wide seeing all the different colors of people, hearing the different sounds of languages, the smell of people from all over the world tickling my nose. I know longer had any wish to fit in, but instead I longed to stand out like the African women wearing headdress, or the smartly dressed kids in jabbering away in French. Being an individual in the airport is a given, because as melting pot of races, the people you come across are bound to be different than you I realized being an individual in this world is not a burden but a blessing, and once this seven year old girl realized the maxi, she became driven to put it into action.

I returned to India every year after that, staying usually for the entire summer. India became my second home, and I loved it more than words could explain. Of course there was the fact that it was the only time I got to see my family, but I loved the country itself and the image I portrayed while I was there. I was the American girl. At first I was seen the one with the expensive gadgets, the new clothes, but I also became the one with confidence and resolution to speak her mind. I wanted to share as much of myself with the people there, and I was finally able to when my family decided to sponsor two kids at SOS Children's Village. Every year we would spend time in their homes, showing them how to use a CD player which in turn they would include us in their game of cricket. Call me selfish, but I wanted more than that and luckily in 2007 I was given the chance to teach a spoken English class to a group of seven girls at SOS. Although the teacher, I was the one to learn about people, love and just life in general.

I remember the plane ride home after SOS distinctly because after such a hectic summer, I finally had time to mull over my experiences. Looking back I chuckled at the how I nervous I was when Giri explained to me that although their spoek English teacher, he did not want me to stick to a rigorous structure. not to keep a rigorous schedule, but to just talk to the girls and make them feel comfortabIe. Following Giri's instructions, I reluctantly stashed aside the lesson plan I had so carefully constructed. In my mind, I was freaking out because I had no idea what to talk to them about. I couldn't imagine they would have the same interests or hobbies as me. However, by their curious eyes, they seemed more than interested to hear me lamely explain how I liked playing tennis and wrote religiously in my diary. In fact, once I started naming a few of my favorite movies (The Lord of the Rings series , and Kabi Kushi Kabhi Gham) they were even nodding their heads in agreement with m choices. After promising to return the next day, I came back at the Tuesday, Wednesday and every day after that; every time returning equally shocked at the innumerable amount of similarities we shared. They also liked to shop and watch soap operas, although there's were Malayalam ones instead of Gossip Girl and Grey's, they were equally excited when a new episode aired. However similar taste in movies and music aren't the things we had in common because the resemblences ran much deeper than that.

They shared the same fears and dreams. One day Raghi showed me some of the sarees she had painted in hopes of someday becoming a designer; another girl Aghila explained to me how she had just applied to a few nursing schools in North India and checked the mail everyday in hopes of hearing back from them. I expected there to be such a culture conflict when talking to these girls, but I felt like I was just chatting with friends at school. I had this mindset that just because they lived on a different continent & came from a different social background we would be drastically different. To my amazement, these stereotypes were proved wrong because at our core , we were exactly the same.

My past seventeen years have been a roller coaster of realizations. From wanting to desperately fit in as a second grader and realizing that would be impossibility in my case, to going to high school determined to pave my own path.

However looking back on my travels I realize that it is not about fitting in or standing out, because at the root people are the same. The girls at SOS and I did not have deeply contrasting ideas, we blended because we understood each other on a level that was simply humane. Even in an airport, although people are from all different parts of the world, they are there for the same reason, for the same goal. No matter where they are going or where they are coming from, everyone boards the plane for the same reason: to get away.