Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? (250-650 words)
Suddenly the train stopped. No platform. No people. Just trees. This is not how I wanted my first train ride to go. I was already unsettled by the unfamiliarity and the loud sounds of metal on metal emanating from underneath the train. Now the train was not moving. I had signed up for acting classes in Philadelphia hoping to expand my ability to express myself but in order to get there I had to overcome one obstacle, public transportation. I looked around to see how the other passengers were reacting to our sudden interruption but no one seemed alarmed. The conductor said it was just a problem with the brakes and we would be moving again soon. I think this was meant to be comforting but I was still on edge. I tried to relax and sunk back into my window seat as the train began to move again. I started to pay attention to the details of the train. As I looked outside my window I started to feel a sense of contentment.
The wind blew through the trees outside my window causing the leaves to become like dancers leaping through the sky. The sounds of the train caught my attention once more and I noticed it had a rhythmic quality to it that I had not heard before. It was like a song being conducted by the train, changing tempo as the train sped up and the leaves continued to stay on beat. I was mesmerized by the hidden beauty. I put on my headphones and listened to my favorite songs which formed an accidental duet with the trains own sounds. My mind went to a place of introspection. I gained clarity about the direction my life was taking and the things I hoped to achieve. As I came out of my reverie I realized the uneasiness I had felt before had completely disappeared.
The train was now full of strangers, all of us very different from each other yet we were all drawn to the same location. I wanted to learn more about these strangers. I watched from my seat to gather information about who they were. I would overhear their conversations and piece together all the information in my head, letting my mind fill in the details to create an identity for each person. The man sitting across from me clutching his briefcase and adjusting his tie became a businessman headed to the most important meeting of his life and the woman in front of me nervously twirling her hair was on her way to her first date with the man she will someday marry. We all had different reasons for being on the train yet it was the vessel transporting us to our destination. The strangers became real people as I added depth to their persona.
I realized that you can look past your initial anxieties and see the potential for growth in any experience. The train was a capsule that served both an emotional and physical role in my life. I was learning more about myself and others as well as traveling into an unknown territory. Coming from a small suburban town I did not get the chance to see the world in the way I found myself seeing it from the window seat of the train, a place where I could get lost in my thoughts and learn about people with all different stories connected by one common thread, the train. For me true contentment is this place where my inner thoughts connect with the outside world and I am inspired.
Suddenly the train stopped. No platform. No people. Just trees. This is not how I wanted my first train ride to go. I was already unsettled by the unfamiliarity and the loud sounds of metal on metal emanating from underneath the train. Now the train was not moving. I had signed up for acting classes in Philadelphia hoping to expand my ability to express myself but in order to get there I had to overcome one obstacle, public transportation. I looked around to see how the other passengers were reacting to our sudden interruption but no one seemed alarmed. The conductor said it was just a problem with the brakes and we would be moving again soon. I think this was meant to be comforting but I was still on edge. I tried to relax and sunk back into my window seat as the train began to move again. I started to pay attention to the details of the train. As I looked outside my window I started to feel a sense of contentment.
The wind blew through the trees outside my window causing the leaves to become like dancers leaping through the sky. The sounds of the train caught my attention once more and I noticed it had a rhythmic quality to it that I had not heard before. It was like a song being conducted by the train, changing tempo as the train sped up and the leaves continued to stay on beat. I was mesmerized by the hidden beauty. I put on my headphones and listened to my favorite songs which formed an accidental duet with the trains own sounds. My mind went to a place of introspection. I gained clarity about the direction my life was taking and the things I hoped to achieve. As I came out of my reverie I realized the uneasiness I had felt before had completely disappeared.
The train was now full of strangers, all of us very different from each other yet we were all drawn to the same location. I wanted to learn more about these strangers. I watched from my seat to gather information about who they were. I would overhear their conversations and piece together all the information in my head, letting my mind fill in the details to create an identity for each person. The man sitting across from me clutching his briefcase and adjusting his tie became a businessman headed to the most important meeting of his life and the woman in front of me nervously twirling her hair was on her way to her first date with the man she will someday marry. We all had different reasons for being on the train yet it was the vessel transporting us to our destination. The strangers became real people as I added depth to their persona.
I realized that you can look past your initial anxieties and see the potential for growth in any experience. The train was a capsule that served both an emotional and physical role in my life. I was learning more about myself and others as well as traveling into an unknown territory. Coming from a small suburban town I did not get the chance to see the world in the way I found myself seeing it from the window seat of the train, a place where I could get lost in my thoughts and learn about people with all different stories connected by one common thread, the train. For me true contentment is this place where my inner thoughts connect with the outside world and I am inspired.
