Hey guys! Am I being too irreverent uploading an essay that depicts a music festival, when applying to Harvard?
Either way, please be as critical as you can. Thanks.
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it
meaningful to you?
(Aldeia do Meco, Sesimbra, Portugal is where the festival takes place)
"Aldeia do Meco? Let me take a look at that" says the elderly gas station attendant as she leans over to take
an old map from Jaron's hands. "Oh, yes, I've attended a baptism nearby, last year. What are you going to do
there again?"I was riding shotgun, aching from five hours on the road. I and Jaron, a longtime friend, were
almost arriving Sesimbra on our road trip from the other end of Portugal."
We're steering to Super Bock Super Rock festival" says Jaron.
"The what?" she says, while slides the nozzle into the gas tank.
"It's an event in an old village with music, art... these kind of things", I said, whilst I realized how absurd it was
to describe something I barely knew. It was my first time.
"Well, let me tell you this. That place you are heading to - it has nothing. And I mean nothing."
What is certain is that we were close: not long after returning to the road, we started to find clouds of dust
kicking up. And behind those clouds were cars, people, lots of them!, who shared the same destiny as us.
That phenomenon in front of our eyes was as surreal as a Dali painting come to life - how can a village,
virtually desert during the year, gather so many people from so many different places in just four days?
Statistics showed 100,000 persons moved simply by the pleasure of live music!
After we arrived, it didn't take long to realize that the festival grounds were populated with people from a world
unknown to us. It seemed as if every culture was represented in this one spot, and everyone showed nothing
but kindness. That was the most profound thing I observed, that during those four never-ending days I heard
not one word of discomfort or dislike. People were falling over each other, bumping through the crowd around
the stage, but everyone was positive, even the metal heads waiting to see Queens of the Stone Age. The
peaceful nature of the diverse crowd helped me understand that the world can be free of conflict and
aggression.
I still keep in mind this particular episode that definitely proved me the importance of chaos. Not chaos as in a
disaster, but rather disorder, randomness: I was sitting nigh my tent, with my guitar by my hands, when this
random stranger just asked me to play with him. I agreed, of course, and within an instant we were having a
dialogue via guitars. It felt like it was embedded within us. By opening ourselves up, just like Emily Dickinson
stated - "The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." - we were alread
y playing around, communicating, copying and answering each other, but at the same time building
something together. We didn't know where we were but we knew where we wanted to go. We sensed it, as
an instinct, and we followed it so as to achieve our vision. And all that uncertainty, those surprises that
appeared were just part of the music. The matter was we were creating something. Something not perfect,
but tailored to us. This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I was able to free myself from
the shackles of perfection and to accept the whole imperfect world out there. My perception of imperfection
completely twisted and eventually established its roots in the very concepts of creativity, innovation,
difference. And perfection? Well, perfection is boring.
These four days will always be the memories I strive to recapture. From then on I no longer wonder what
mankind can create other than destruction. Super Bock Super Rock has told me of our capabilities as
perfectly imperfect beings. We just need to find the right beat.
Either way, please be as critical as you can. Thanks.
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it
meaningful to you?
(Aldeia do Meco, Sesimbra, Portugal is where the festival takes place)
"Aldeia do Meco? Let me take a look at that" says the elderly gas station attendant as she leans over to take
an old map from Jaron's hands. "Oh, yes, I've attended a baptism nearby, last year. What are you going to do
there again?"I was riding shotgun, aching from five hours on the road. I and Jaron, a longtime friend, were
almost arriving Sesimbra on our road trip from the other end of Portugal."
We're steering to Super Bock Super Rock festival" says Jaron.
"The what?" she says, while slides the nozzle into the gas tank.
"It's an event in an old village with music, art... these kind of things", I said, whilst I realized how absurd it was
to describe something I barely knew. It was my first time.
"Well, let me tell you this. That place you are heading to - it has nothing. And I mean nothing."
What is certain is that we were close: not long after returning to the road, we started to find clouds of dust
kicking up. And behind those clouds were cars, people, lots of them!, who shared the same destiny as us.
That phenomenon in front of our eyes was as surreal as a Dali painting come to life - how can a village,
virtually desert during the year, gather so many people from so many different places in just four days?
Statistics showed 100,000 persons moved simply by the pleasure of live music!
After we arrived, it didn't take long to realize that the festival grounds were populated with people from a world
unknown to us. It seemed as if every culture was represented in this one spot, and everyone showed nothing
but kindness. That was the most profound thing I observed, that during those four never-ending days I heard
not one word of discomfort or dislike. People were falling over each other, bumping through the crowd around
the stage, but everyone was positive, even the metal heads waiting to see Queens of the Stone Age. The
peaceful nature of the diverse crowd helped me understand that the world can be free of conflict and
aggression.
I still keep in mind this particular episode that definitely proved me the importance of chaos. Not chaos as in a
disaster, but rather disorder, randomness: I was sitting nigh my tent, with my guitar by my hands, when this
random stranger just asked me to play with him. I agreed, of course, and within an instant we were having a
dialogue via guitars. It felt like it was embedded within us. By opening ourselves up, just like Emily Dickinson
stated - "The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." - we were alread
y playing around, communicating, copying and answering each other, but at the same time building
something together. We didn't know where we were but we knew where we wanted to go. We sensed it, as
an instinct, and we followed it so as to achieve our vision. And all that uncertainty, those surprises that
appeared were just part of the music. The matter was we were creating something. Something not perfect,
but tailored to us. This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I was able to free myself from
the shackles of perfection and to accept the whole imperfect world out there. My perception of imperfection
completely twisted and eventually established its roots in the very concepts of creativity, innovation,
difference. And perfection? Well, perfection is boring.
These four days will always be the memories I strive to recapture. From then on I no longer wonder what
mankind can create other than destruction. Super Bock Super Rock has told me of our capabilities as
perfectly imperfect beings. We just need to find the right beat.