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UC Personal Insight Question #3I was in the middle of Japan, living with complete strangers. Despite this, I wasn't nervous, in fact I was excited. I should have been nervous over how well I'd get along with my host family, but I wasn't. I should have been nervous about being in a foreign country with very few money, yet I was calm. Which is rather strange behavior for me. My friends tend to think of me as a nervous person and a control freak, which at times I was. So naturally they- like everyone else- thought that voyaging to Japan would be one of the hardest things for me to do. When I got off that plane in Osaka, I took a deep breath and told myself that I would need to be able to adapt to change, I had to let go of being stubborn and learn how to "go with the flow". With that said I was confident that I would learn to adapt to their culture; it was kind of necessary for my survival. It was difficult at first learning how to adapt to new customs, languages, and cultures. But by adapting to their way of life those strangers became family. I truly feel that the Hirata family is an extension of my own family. I could have been stubborn but by learning to adapt I was able to make lifelong connections with people around the world and that is why I believe that this is my greatest skill. I came back to the United States with a new mindset and a need to travel the world. I've taken this ski
ll and applied it to different aspects of my life. I've learned to adapt to the various teaching methods that instructor's use, which has been of great use during senior year. I've also learned to adapt my schedule for the new course load that senior year entails. It took a journey across the world for me to learn how to adapt and it was absolutely worth it. UC Personal Insight Question #6I like to think that I was born with a logical mind, but the truth is that I developed one from being exposed to science in school. I grew up in a conservative Catholic family, it wasn't normal for anyone in my family to be interested in science as much as I was. Despite being ridiculed for believing more in science than in God, I stuck to my beliefs because they made sense to me. Being interested in science led me to question everything as a child and it developed the insatiable taste of curiosity I have today as a young adult. I was a kid with many questions, but because my parents didn't fully receive a proper middle school education I was forced to look for those answers on my own. I remember walking to the public library all the way across town-with my sister- every day after school, for all of middle school. It was the only place where I could get science books for long periods of time, at no cost. Being interested in science from an early age formed the initiative that I have today. It also shaped the interests I have today. I stayed up for countless nights reading National Geographic articles at the beginning of high school. Reading those science articles helped me develop a vocabulary in English that helped me surpass my peers and finish AP English Literature a year early. Science to me was the one thing that remained unchanged in a time of my life when everything seemed to be changing. Science influenced me to question everything. It shaped the way I see the world; it helped me understand the world better.
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UC Personal Insight Question #5Reading transported me to different places around the world, where I experienced different cultures and went on different adventures. However, reading- at least in English- was one of the biggest challenges I faced growing up. I didn’t properly learn English until 2nd grade and it was very difficult for me to go from a Spanish speaking household to a school environment that only spoke English on a daily basis. I knew that I needed to master the English language if I wanted to be successful in America. So I began reading, a lot. After I found books that interested me-science and fantasy books- I was able to master the English language. From the first to the last California Standardized Test that I took, I scored advanced in reading. I set a goal that I would maintain my scores all throughout elementary school for the CST and by reading I was able to achieve those goals. Reading complex books about science and medieval fantasy strengthened my vernacular in English. English went from the hardest subject to the easiest when I was in high school. Ironically, it wasn't English I was having struggling with in high school but Spanish, my native tongue. I became so advanced in English, because of the adventures reading took me on, that I took a college level English class at College of the Sequoias-my local Community College- in the summer of 2015. I passed with an A. I was proud that my dedication through the years had prepared me to thrive with college level coursework. Because of that I was able to enroll in AP English Literature. I passed the class with an A and the AP Exam with a 3. While learning the entirety of a language was difficult at first; I was able to master it by reading and setting goals to improve my vernacular. In doing so I've gone on the greatest real world adventures and have been able to interact with different cultures.
UC Personal Insight Question #8Who I am is a culmination of my life experiences and because of that I am unlike anyone else. The choices I make define me more than what I say. One of the biggest choices I made was deciding to come out as gay to my parents. Both of my parents were immigrants to America- they both immigrated from Mexico. I grew up working hard so that my parent's sacrifice-leaving their country and their livelihood- was not in vain. I feared disappointing my parents as much as I feared Immigration Control taking them away from me. Which is why I was so scared of coming out to them.
One of the things I valued growing up was how my parents were able to bring a small part of Mexico into our home. It was truly a unique experience coming and going from two culturally different environments- my home and school- every day. This is a big part of who I am as it represents what being Chicano is all about. I learned to accept both sides of what I consider my culture, even when they clashed. In Mexico, men are subjected to strict gender roles where they are expected to be manly and macho. Unfortunately this part of my parent's culture made it across the border with them. I feared disappointing them and when I came out, they were devastated. What makes me different isn't necessarily what I did but how I responded. I worked with them every day to help them understand until they finally understood that I was their son no matter what. Having to remind your parents of that for over a year definitely built character, character that has defined me and made me unlike anyone else. I work hard to win over people than mean something to me, I don't give up easily, and I don't walk away from a challenge. If this doesn't make me unique then I don't know what does. |
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