Tell us something about yourself, your experiences, or activities that you believe would reflect positively on your ability to succeed at XXX. This is your opportunity to tell us something about yourself that is not already reflected in your application or academic records.
For my whole life, I could never pick one place to call my home. It seems easy for a person to say their home is where they are born, but not for me. I was born in Connecticut and left it after 3 months that I can't even remember. From that point on my family started moving me around the world. I've lived in Germany, California, Austria and Japan. These places have taught me to speak German, Japanese, and have given me the opportunity to see so much. From living in these places it made it easier for my family to go on vacations to visit even more places. I've seen the poverty, pollution, and the strains on societies from the lack of basic infrastructures but also the high-speed bullet train, earthquake proof buildings, and some fascinating green technologies in the most developed cities of the world. I really can't chose one of these places to call my home; they are all apart of who I am.
All of the places I lived in created me. In Japan, I learned to respect everyone with upmost respect. My first impression of Japan when I arrived was just how many people there were. I felt overwhelmed by, well, almost everything; the people, the lights, the noise, and really the whole lifestyle. I remember accidentally walking into a Japanese businessman on the way to our house. I'm pretty sure I was walking on the right side of the sidewalk when I should have been walking on the left. He immediately stopped and turned around, I was surprised he turned around and thought I did something horribly wrong. My mind was scrambling trying to think of a way to apologies but all I didn't know any Japanese and in the spur of the moment ended up saying "I'm sorry Sir." Expecting a disgusting look or smirk I was really surprised when he bowed to me and when standing back up said "sumimasen" and quickly went back on his way. I was mind blown with how polite everyone seemed to be. After a while, I started to see, learn and become more comfortable about my surroundings. Everything there worked in an orderly and consistent way.
My desire to learn more about science and engineering also developed from living and learning in Japan. I couldn't drive but didn't need to. I could get anywhere I wanted relatively quickly too with the train system. The bullet trains as well as local subway systems were so easy to use and were always on time. Instead of taking the bus to a basketball game, the team would meet and we would all take the subway to the school. All the buildings in Japan were also earthquake proof. I remember experiencing a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, when I looked out my window I could see other skyscraper buildings in Tokyo just sway back and forth. It was kind of scary but also really cool that the swaying is actually what is keeping you safe.
I feel fortunate to have visited and lived in all of these places because of what they have taught me about the world. While I am not certain of my specific major at this time, I feel like I will be able to bring a truly unique global perspective and experience to the Penn State University community and to work with my peers and professors towards discovering and finding solutions to some of the world's most pressing and future engineering challenges.
For my whole life, I could never pick one place to call my home. It seems easy for a person to say their home is where they are born, but not for me. I was born in Connecticut and left it after 3 months that I can't even remember. From that point on my family started moving me around the world. I've lived in Germany, California, Austria and Japan. These places have taught me to speak German, Japanese, and have given me the opportunity to see so much. From living in these places it made it easier for my family to go on vacations to visit even more places. I've seen the poverty, pollution, and the strains on societies from the lack of basic infrastructures but also the high-speed bullet train, earthquake proof buildings, and some fascinating green technologies in the most developed cities of the world. I really can't chose one of these places to call my home; they are all apart of who I am.
All of the places I lived in created me. In Japan, I learned to respect everyone with upmost respect. My first impression of Japan when I arrived was just how many people there were. I felt overwhelmed by, well, almost everything; the people, the lights, the noise, and really the whole lifestyle. I remember accidentally walking into a Japanese businessman on the way to our house. I'm pretty sure I was walking on the right side of the sidewalk when I should have been walking on the left. He immediately stopped and turned around, I was surprised he turned around and thought I did something horribly wrong. My mind was scrambling trying to think of a way to apologies but all I didn't know any Japanese and in the spur of the moment ended up saying "I'm sorry Sir." Expecting a disgusting look or smirk I was really surprised when he bowed to me and when standing back up said "sumimasen" and quickly went back on his way. I was mind blown with how polite everyone seemed to be. After a while, I started to see, learn and become more comfortable about my surroundings. Everything there worked in an orderly and consistent way.
My desire to learn more about science and engineering also developed from living and learning in Japan. I couldn't drive but didn't need to. I could get anywhere I wanted relatively quickly too with the train system. The bullet trains as well as local subway systems were so easy to use and were always on time. Instead of taking the bus to a basketball game, the team would meet and we would all take the subway to the school. All the buildings in Japan were also earthquake proof. I remember experiencing a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, when I looked out my window I could see other skyscraper buildings in Tokyo just sway back and forth. It was kind of scary but also really cool that the swaying is actually what is keeping you safe.
I feel fortunate to have visited and lived in all of these places because of what they have taught me about the world. While I am not certain of my specific major at this time, I feel like I will be able to bring a truly unique global perspective and experience to the Penn State University community and to work with my peers and professors towards discovering and finding solutions to some of the world's most pressing and future engineering challenges.
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