Prompt: Quality of Rice's academic life and residential college system is influenced by the unique life expereinces and cultural traditions of the students. What perspective do you feel you will contribute to to the life at Rice
My Essay so far:
I am a child of two cultures. My parents are immigrants from china, but they try to raise me and my sister as citizens of the United States. Western and Eastern cultures could not be more different, yet I have learned to mix the two. I can eat my dinners with both chopsticks and forks and I can appreciate poems for both the meaning of the words and the beauty in its calligraphy. At Rice University I will be able to contribute my unique blend of Chinese and American cultures.
First of all, I feel I need to explain why my view of the world is unique. According to recent world statistics, one in five people speak Chinese, but a hefty majority of those people are the offspring of immigrants who were taught Chinese through their parents. I, on the other hand, had a firsthand account of the cultures and traditions because I spent the first three years of my life growing up in China. My parents, who were still in school earning their master's degrees, could not afford to take care of me, so they left me in my grandmother's care. My grandmother did not live in one of China's westernized urban cities; instead, she owned a small farm in a small village in one of the most rural parts of China. The setting that I grew up in was completely untouched by any outside influence; it was pure Chinese culture.
And then suddenly, I was thrown onto a plane, and flown to Chicago, one of the busiest and biggest cities in America. I had my first Christmas, rode on my first bus, and was astounded by how different the United States is when compared to my grandmother's small village in China. But I learned to adapt, and I readily accepted the new traditions and experiences that Chicago had to offer. But as I learned the new language and slowly assimilated into my preschool class, I held on to everything that I had learned from my first years. I mix Chinese and English in the same sentence when talking to my parents and my favorite dish became hamburgers with rice. I did more than retain my Chinese heritage; I built off it and tampered with it until it became unique to me.
Being raised in two polarly opposite cultural settings has taught me the importance of sharing ideas. I would not have survived the culture shock if I had tried to hold on to my strict agrarian way of life when I moved to Chicago. At the same time, I could not forget my time in China or else I would lose all the life lessons of humility and kindness that come with growing up on a farm. Instead, I learned to share ideas from both cultures, a skill that I still exercise today. In my opinion, no single perspective of any culture or ethnic background is superior to another. They are all equal pieces of a puzzle that create a full picture only when they joined in alliance with each other.
I will bring with me the ability merge the perspective of two cultures.
I have writer's block right now and everything I try to write sounds redundant (as do the last few paragraphs). I need to expand this essay a lot and I would appreciate any advice you have on how to do that.
Thank You!
