Undergraduate / "I'm a collector of my friends' birthdays" - elaborate on your activity [7]

1.In the space provided below, please elaborate on one of your activities (extracurricular, personal activities, or work experience) (150 words or fewer).

I'm a collector. But instead of stamps, cards or models, I collect birthdays of my friends. This seemingly intricate habit was firstly developed in elementary school, when I was hoping to prove a theory posed in maths class that every day of common year has equal chance to be one's birthday. However, as my collection booming, the experiment seemed to be less important than the birthdays themselves. It's fascinating to think of that every group of numbers stands for a real person, or more than that, a bonding and future of a family. Each time when a friend's name appears on my calendar, I would always wait until midnight to give him/her a big surprise. At those very moments, whether we are of affinity or alienation, I can retrieve the best time with him/her and appreciate sincerely for those once belonged to me, the top time, the treasure recollections Believing that "every one lives in the memory of others", I want to be the one who remembers most. More than collections, what I'm doing is to depict my life in another form.

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Is the response well fit the question? I'm not sure if it's effective....
Please, any suggestions. Thx a million! ^^

Undergraduate / "What if i'm not an athlete?"---U of Michigan [7]

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it. (Approximately 250 words)

I am not an athlete from any angle, neither a big fan of sports who would spend three hours a day in playing tennis, nor a talent sports star who can monopolize five of eight gold medals in my school's sports meeting. Yet I have come across a chance to touch the heart of sports as a participant of 7th International Pierre de Coubertin Youths Forum, and to be a "sportswoman" in an unusual means.

It was not until the day when I arrived at Athens, the city of Olympics, and met those 'Big Stars of Future' from more than twenty countries that I was aware of how extensive the gap is between us. The obstacle to communicating and chasm in athletic skills added to my diffidence. However, my state of mood gradually changed, when Thea from Norway chatted with me with excitement late one night, telling me thousands of her absorbing anecdotes in skiing, when Felix from Germany translated his tips for the knowledge test and shared them in our discussion group, when I had my right ankle hurt during the cross country race which I finally finished with great pain and exhaustion, and later that day, almost every one visited me, easing me with commiseration and complimenting for my persistence...I recalled of the Olympic Creed which I had recited for thousands times but had not truly understood, "The most important thing is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well." I came to recognize that despite not a gifted sportswoman, as a member of the forum, especially one represented the original culture, I could and was obligated to play my part in the group, and that difference between us was not burden but something valuable, which was often called "diversity".

With the brand new comprehension, after a short yet sufficient preparation, we Chinese team set up classes on Tai Chi and Kong Zhu, also I performed Kungfu Tea at the art performance, by which made me popular among those who were longing for traditional Chinese culture. Since that very moment, I noticed that my value in the forum was to be exactly who I was-a non-professional player yet a motivated participant.

To adequately express my understanding of Olympism and made my own contribution to the forum, I spent the next year in keeping in touch with all the 140 fellows and working on further in-depth study about physical education among youths which was the chief purpose of the forum. Again I am not an athlete, but I feel that I am the one who has fully waded into sports.

The 8th forum will be held in my school next year, and as a host, I am willing to tell someone---maybe a girl from Czech with no confidence because she could neither run fast nor play basketball well---that to a community, nothing is better than to devote oneself completely in one's own way.

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Thx for ur reading and sorry for my poor lanuage.