“Hi, I’m from …” was how we were supposed to introduce ourselves on the first day of school. As each student told the rest of the class where they had lived before, I was amazed to hear that almost everyone had come from a different part of the world. And now, as we have all become great friends—as close as family—I feel that I can say that they help define my world.
Balboa Academy in Panama City, Panama, is more than just your average school: it’s a crossroad for people from many different places, and of all sorts of backgrounds. I have friends from Peru, Jamaica, Colombia, Canada, France, Chile, Spain, Ecuador, Taiwan, India, and the list goes on. Meeting these people, my friends, has opened my eyes to the rest of the world. They are the link that connects me to different cultures and languages. It is through them that my world has expanded.
Never before have I felt that I could offer more than just my own heritage. Now, I have knowledge of so many other worlds. From my friends’ stories, I have acquired a grasp of many cultures and traditions. And compared to when I was growing up in Torrance, California, I have a new perspective on life, one of open-mindedness. Because of my experiences living in Panama, my world has expanded far beyond what I thought possible.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Juggling
It’s just who I am. I’ve been called many things before: busy body, perfectionist, hardest worker, nerd, jock, and other things. What have I done to receive these names? I have an intense sense of passion for everything I do. And, trust me, I do more than your average person. I do so much I even scare myself sometimes. I tend to seize every opportunity and somehow gain control of it.
My life, in short, is like a juggling act. If each ball represents something I do, I could work in a circus as a juggling master. High school is tough as it is, but unlike actually juggling, I somehow manage to make time for every activity I’m interested in.
Keeping up my grades is also a top priority, not that I can rank which activity is the most important. In my book, everything I do is important. It just means I have to work a lot harder, but that has worked all my life so it isn’t a problem. The key to my success is determination.
I love everything I do. I also believe that life is short and that I should make wise use of every spare moment of my precious time. Thus, every action taken has to come from my heart and soul, because I invest every ounce of energy within me. No matter what I do, I give my all and never give up until the job is done.
What makes me proud, more than anything, is how I feel that this aspect of my personality is what people most like about me. But gaining their respect hasn’t been easy. Being nearly two years younger than my classmates was at first a disadvantage. Nevertheless, I now know that they support and respect everything I have achieved. My drive to excel in everything I do is what defines me today.
My life, in short, is like a juggling act. If each ball represents something I do, I could work in a circus as a juggling master. High school is tough as it is, but unlike actually juggling, I somehow manage to make time for every activity I’m interested in.
Keeping up my grades is also a top priority, not that I can rank which activity is the most important. In my book, everything I do is important. It just means I have to work a lot harder, but that has worked all my life so it isn’t a problem. The key to my success is determination.
I love everything I do. I also believe that life is short and that I should make wise use of every spare moment of my precious time. Thus, every action taken has to come from my heart and soul, because I invest every ounce of energy within me. No matter what I do, I give my all and never give up until the job is done.
What makes me proud, more than anything, is how I feel that this aspect of my personality is what people most like about me. But gaining their respect hasn’t been easy. Being nearly two years younger than my classmates was at first a disadvantage. Nevertheless, I now know that they support and respect everything I have achieved. My drive to excel in everything I do is what defines me today.
Oh, How Time Flies
As the last of the bumps smoothed out and the plane completed its descent, my stomach tingled with excitement, happy to be back in California. It had been exactly one year since I moved away to Panama and I felt good to be back.
The summer of 2007 consisted of beach outings, grunion hunting, a trip to Disneyland, and a long drive to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. Does that sound like fun? Perhaps not, but for me it certainly was.
Surprisingly, on this trip the history of California started to fascinate me. When I had lived there I didn’t think much of it, but visiting Manzanar really opened my eyes, especially due to my heritage. As a Japanese-American, I felt my time there was a valuable cultural and educational experience. All this I had once taken for granted. And that summer, to see my home-state in a different way, after living abroad, taught me that I should approach all places with the same open-mindedness.
This visit made me want to explore my culture further. Never before had I felt the need to learn more about myself. Who my ancestors were and what was my family history were questions that started to come, and often, to mind. So, the summer of 2007 may not have been the most productive use of my time—in terms of academics—but it was definitely worthwhile.
The summer of 2008: another fun vacation? Not really. Senior year was right around the corner and college wouldn’t be much further behind. High school sure had gone by fast, and I had no time to waste. There were many things to do over the summer. No time to relax, everything was serious business.
I visited several colleges, met with college counselors, took SAT and U.S. History classes. Of course, this was all very interesting, but in terms of fun, it was the exact opposite of how I spent my vacation the year before.
I woke up every morning at 6, went to history class until 12:45pm, and then rushed over to my SAT classes until 6 in the evening. Everyday was jam-packed with studying, except the weekends and the Fourth of July, when I was fortunate enough to attend a delicious barbeque dinner. At least I had one holiday during my “vacation.”
Over the last two summers I learned that time is precious, and that regardless of how I spend my time, it’s important always to be trying to grow as a person.
The summer of 2007 consisted of beach outings, grunion hunting, a trip to Disneyland, and a long drive to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. Does that sound like fun? Perhaps not, but for me it certainly was.
Surprisingly, on this trip the history of California started to fascinate me. When I had lived there I didn’t think much of it, but visiting Manzanar really opened my eyes, especially due to my heritage. As a Japanese-American, I felt my time there was a valuable cultural and educational experience. All this I had once taken for granted. And that summer, to see my home-state in a different way, after living abroad, taught me that I should approach all places with the same open-mindedness.
This visit made me want to explore my culture further. Never before had I felt the need to learn more about myself. Who my ancestors were and what was my family history were questions that started to come, and often, to mind. So, the summer of 2007 may not have been the most productive use of my time—in terms of academics—but it was definitely worthwhile.
The summer of 2008: another fun vacation? Not really. Senior year was right around the corner and college wouldn’t be much further behind. High school sure had gone by fast, and I had no time to waste. There were many things to do over the summer. No time to relax, everything was serious business.
I visited several colleges, met with college counselors, took SAT and U.S. History classes. Of course, this was all very interesting, but in terms of fun, it was the exact opposite of how I spent my vacation the year before.
I woke up every morning at 6, went to history class until 12:45pm, and then rushed over to my SAT classes until 6 in the evening. Everyday was jam-packed with studying, except the weekends and the Fourth of July, when I was fortunate enough to attend a delicious barbeque dinner. At least I had one holiday during my “vacation.”
Over the last two summers I learned that time is precious, and that regardless of how I spend my time, it’s important always to be trying to grow as a person.
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