please give me your thoughts on this. thanks a lot!
Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.
I used to like calling my world "The Pearl of the East" as it so dutifully represents Hong Kong's glamour and incandescence, but now calling it that is to be parochially minded to a generally broader worldview, as it has become an international mosaic in the last decade. Beneath this island of cosmopolitan emphasis exist humbler and more pragmatic entities, ones like that of my family, which has managed to maintain a relatively simplistic lifestyle. My family is what has grounded me in my own principles and a sense of correctness. While it can best be described as a hybrid of the traditional Chinese family and archetypical modern family that typifies the city, it only attempts to conform at the latter in light of peer pressure from the gradual crumbling of familial conservatism as well as germinating liberalism in the household, something evident with many of my friends, whom are all extremely extroverted to say the least, and unrestrained by family values to party or to initiate their night lives in bars or pubs. I, however, have been taught off the old dictum "work hard, play hard" and often lectured about finding friends who would have a "good influence." Initially, my teenage angst rebelled me against my parents for their virtual imprisonment of my social life, but when several people I knew and hung out with at school were caught and expelled for drug use, I started to see the ramifications of a reckless life that eventually undid the lives of my friends, and even an appreciation for my parent's obligation of me. Moreover, as members of the medical and ultimately scientific community, both my parents have spurred a craving for science as a whole in both my brother and myself. One day, upon coming home, the first thing my father did was to hold me and shake me, exclaiming at the discovery of the Higgs Boson at CERN at the doorstep. My parents has never strove to forcing this interest onto me, but when they discuss medicine and new advances in the living room on a Sunday night, casual as ever, I irrevocably eavesdrop and as little steps goes, I have since made big strides confirming my aspirations to become scientifically involved with the rest of the world. My status as an international student has also provided me with both impetus and vision to impact the world, and I have come to believe that science is very much the atom of the future in a city as technologically dependent as mine. Truly, the best have come from both worlds to define me as an individual and one with that has the power and responsibility to relevantly impact the world.
