The quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice? (Most applicants are able to respond successfully in two to three double-spaced pages.)
Well, I'm going to be honest, I'm fully American.... So I had trouble with this one...
I grew up in a typical, middle-class household in suburban Pennsylvania. My parents were both born in the United States of America. My father's parents are German, and my mother's are Italian. They each grew up with a different set of cultural traditions, which did not make it to my generation, except for the big Italian meals and style of cooking. My parents decided to move to Florida in 2000 where they became a part of the fifty percent of marriages that have ended in divorce. With no family close by, even the large Italian home-style meals occurred less frequently, if at all. My dad got remarried to a woman with a Swedish background, who has her own set of cultural traditions that she only follows around the holidays. My family is the epitome of the phrase "the American melting-pot."
Although my family has not passed down many original cultural traditions, we have, in a sense, come up with our own traditions. For example, every summer, I embark on a vacation with my father, my stepmother, my little brother, and my stepsister. These vacations typically last about a week, and consist of sightseeing, fancy-dinner-eating, family bonding, and the occasional but unavoidable bickering that occurs between any two given members of the family. Overall, I can't complain, because it is through this yearly tradition of family vacationing that I have experienced and learned to appreciate a plethora of other cultural practices and traditions.
The first year we took one of these vacations, we traveled to San Francisco. We visited China town, walked the Golden Gate Bridge, ate clam chowder from bread bowls, took a tour of Alcatraz, and learned about the history of the Cable Car. I learned to appreciate the city lifestyle, walking from place to place and taking taxis when we could not make it. I realized that some of the fish I ate, even in Florida, came from hard-working fishermen on the San Francisco bay. Then I traveled to New York, to experience first hand the hustle-bustle portrayed so often in films. It was just as I expected: taxis practically running people over, stressed out business people yelling at each other, and homeless beggars lining the streets. The amount of action excited me, but after a four-day experience in New York, I was ready to go home. The following year, I traveled to Nashville, Tennessee. I had no idea that two places in the same country could be so polar-opposite of each other. People in Nashville were perhaps the most hospitable and laid-back people I have ever met. We visited the Country Music Museum and the Grand Ole Opry, where I heard true country music for the first time. I had always hated country music, but ever since my trip to Nashville, the country radio stations have been among my favorites. I have also traveled to South Carolina, Arizona, Southern California, and Louisiana to name a few, and each place has further enriched my appreciation and acceptance of other cultures.
Perhaps more enriching than my national vacations have been my international vacations. I have been to Jamaica and various parts of the Bahamas, where I was offered, and kindly declined, marijuana on several occasions. I witnessed how the natives worked to produce food and clothing for themselves. I noticed how tourism is the main source of revenue in these places, and consumerism plays much less of a role. I respect these people and their culture, and I appreciate their ability to self-sustain. This appreciation would not be truly possible had I not traveled there on a family vacation.
Europe was another international vacation that my family and I took a few years ago. We traveled first to Spain, where I tried food I had never even heard of such as Paella. Then we went to France, and although I did not venture as far as to try escargot, I visited Monte Carlo and saw the beautiful beaches of Marseille while enjoying fresh baguettes. After France, we visited Italy where I splurged on a handmade Italian leather purse and indulged in fresh mozzarella and tomato, homemade pasta, and the best pizza I have ever tasted. In all three places, we visited millennium-old landmarks like The Colosseum and The Tower of Pisa. During my European vacation, along with at least seven pounds, I gained a deeper appreciation for history and culture than I ever could have in the United States.
The fact that my typical American family came up with our own tradition of traveling yearly to new places has truly given me an appreciation and enrichment of other cultures that would not be otherwise possible. As I enter the next phase of my life, the university, I will bring with me the recognition and gratitude for the other cultures I will be associating and living with. The Residential College System at Rice University will especially require the appreciation I have gained through my family travels because I will be exposed to such a vast number of cultures and traditions brought by the diverse student body; the student body will, in turn, benefit me by enriching my cultural background even further. Although I was brought up in a household with not one predominant culture, my family's American tradition of traveling every summer has given me the opportunity to learn from and respect other cultures - something that will define and be a part of me forever.
