Undergraduate /
'human civilizations' - My JHU Supplement essay-why do you want to choose this major? [6]
What do I really want to do? How am I going to be in the future? After all those weekly discussions of vocational guidance with my parents, I decided that what my parents wanted me to do did not necessarily mean what I wanted to do. With my love for coffee, the thought of opening my own coffee brand was the first thing that struck my mind. However, when I left home and experienced the outside world, I discovered my interest in exploring new cultures. Thriving in a multicultural world, I learned that promoting cultural understanding and bridging cultural barriers are important skills in international relations.
I came to United States, weighted down by a deep responsibility to meet my parents' expectations. Though culture shock managed to throw me off at the beginning, my carefree nature eventually helped me rebound back to my old self, especially after much effort to strike up conversations. As my brains filled up with new faces and names, I tried to embrace these new opportunities that this multicultural world offered. The barriers of language and culture could not prevent me from sharing a bond of friendship with people from all over the world.
It was our school Diversity Day that inspired me to promote a better understanding of our culture. With three Vietnamese founding members, we started a Vietnamese club and managed to recruit more members to prepare for the conference on Culture, Racism and Colored People. We were all fervent to introduce people to a deeper and closer look at Vietnamese culture and planned for the workshop several weeks in advance.
The workshop was well received. We presented our traditional clothes, Ao Dai, and food, and invited everyone to do a folklore dance with sticks. The workshop ended as we gave everyone some Vietnamese cakes we specially made as gifts before they came back to their schools. The relief of accomplishing a successful introduction to our country could never be compared with our happiness over introducing the most beautiful parts of our tradition to foreigners.
Unfortunately, that spirit quickly disappeared when I witnessed a display of cultural ignorance. On my way to throw out the trash, I saw few students who attended our workshop. Excited to know their opinions, I was about to approach and talk to them, when one of the students said something I could not get off my mind for the next few weeks: "These things taste like trash! I wonder how Asians can eat them". They laughed together, and threw away the gifts that we gave them. One of them commented something on how ridiculous Ao Dai looked. I did not engage with them but instead waited for them to leave. The next thing I knew I was opening the trashcan and reclaiming our cultural treasures.
I had known the feeling of hurt self-respect, but never had I imagined that one day my pride of nationality would be hurt, and worse than that, in a foreign country. The comments they made on the clothes did not upset me as much as the way they carelessly threw away the gifts, as well as our effort and national pride. I chose not to tell my friends what I saw, instead kept it as a secret.
When the conference ended, I had decided that I wanted to pursue a career in international studies. I want to show people all over the world the beauty of Vietnamese culture, to bring our tradition to every country. I want to connect people everywhere through the path of culture exploration and appreciation. My Vietnamese heritage taught me that developing a passion and appreciation for culture and tradition is a long process. I may not always succeed to meet my individual objectives in international relations, but I do not think I would fail at building a foundation for cooperation and understanding through cultural awareness.
Therefore, I have always been looking forward to a college education that will fully prepare me, that will be challenging and enjoyable, which Johns Hopkins University is a perfect match. I know that in Johns Hopkins, I will meet people who share with me my idealism of connecting cultures and bringing the world together, which gives me an opportunity to exchange ideas, to learn from them and to introduce them my own culture. The vast ranges of courses, the flexibility of education and the open-minded environment that Johns Hopkins offers means that besides international politics, economics and governments, I will learn from a broad range of other knowledge, an in-depth understanding of human civilizations, human nature as well as lessons from the past and keen insights to the future. With the freedom to learn more than what my concentration offers, I will discover new interests and ideas to fully develop other aspects of my mind, body and soul.
I believe that education in Johns Hopkins will helps to bring out the best of myself, as well as let me grow as a whole person. I also believe that I will contribute my best to Johns Hopkins Community as it provides me with an ideal environment to do so.
