Legally speaking I became an adult just a few months ago (complete with voter and draft registration!), however, my real transition into adulthood began many years before with the loss of my mother’s job, a nearly absent father, and a brother away at school. In seventh grade my only sibling was away at boarding school, my parents were divorced and my father, who I rarely see more than once or twice in a year was living outside of New Orleans...
“Tarbooz”, my teacher exclaimed loudly at dinner the first night at camp in Tajikistan. I looked up surprised, not having heard the word in years. I experienced an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu. Neuroscientists say that déjà vu occurs when there is trouble reconciling firing memory neurons with sensory input (though, admittedly, the mechanism is not well understood). Then it hit me: the image of my mother, holding a plump watermelon, and murmuring the same word I just heard...
I have a secret I’m not supposed to tell. But I just have to. Wouldn’t you, if it was the secret to happiness? The secret to happiness is the little things: those moments you take the sum of in order to reach a greater, lovelier whole. When I think of what I’m proud of in my life, when I think of what matters most to me, what makes me smile, it’s always the little things: a friend’s encouragement, a simple compliment, a smile, a hug, a card. I could list a thousand more, but that’s not the point...
“So does that mean that I get to have two houses?” Thus is the sweet, naïve pondering of a young child who always recognized only the best in each situation. The glamour of having two houses soon diminished in the harsh light of that ugly word––divorce. Before I fully understood the nuances of what this word would bring to my family, I thought that having two houses would be a good thing; this impending separation of my parents would be beneficial for me. I would later learn otherwise, but I can still recall those words vividly because they would come to mean lot more to me as I grew older...
The United States educational system has provided me with many opportunities to thoroughly learn about the history and the greatness of our country. However, it has also afforded me many other outlets to learn about America’s relation to the rest of the world as well as the nuances of global politics...
I plan to use my Engineering degree to benefit societyWhen one hears the word engineering one conjures up an image which reflects his or her own perspective on that subject. For me this term represents various things and I shall try to explain it in the best possible way. Engineering for me is vision...
If somebody caught me working on a film set or coordinating a show, they would find me in my most focused, precise, hardworking manner. If that same person caught me on the 6:40 ferry to Manhattan on my way to school, they would find a jovial, animated, loony character trying to cheer her friends up for another day of arduous work...
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