Describe an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family. (650) I just stepped off the school bus. The ground was muddy. The sky was gray. Rain was pouring down on my head like I was standing under a waterfall. I had only been at Algonquin Park for one minute and already, I missed home. This was to be a four day excursion where the class would learn about science in “the real world. ” The plan seemed simple, learn how to collect data at school, collect the data during the expedition, then analyse the data when we got back to school.
It was as simple as a science equation, but it was missing a very important variable – emotions. I thought I was ready to take on the challenge. At one point, I was even excited but now stepping off the bus, I felt sick and the weather was not helping either. This was to be four days without the comforts of technology. No electricity, no toilets, no showers, no beds, but more devastating than that, no chance to talk to family. How was I ever going to survive that? The simple answer was, there were fifty other students that were going through the same things.
Unfortunately, my pessimism was right and the first day was awful. We hiked for hours collecting data by hand before we got a chance to go back to the campground to eat dinner. For dinner, there were limited options – instant rice or instant noodles. As for sleep, all we had were sleeping bags the separated us from the wet, muddy and harsh ground. I could not wait for this to be over. Then something changed. Something I never thought would happen especially after the torment that we all endured on the first day. The next day, the sun came out.
The morale of the entire group changed and we went from hating the experience to realizing that no matter what happens, we were all stuck here for four days. The only variable in the new equation was whether we decided to thrive or survive through it. I have to admit that without people going through the same thing that I was, I probably would have never made it through the four days. But each day, my friends started to become my family. On the fourth day, we packed up and started to load luggage on the school bus. We all got onto the bus and I got onto my seat.
Then something overcame me, this weird sensation of an inundation of uncontrollable emotion. I shed a tear. I looked around me and nearly everyone was crying not because of the hardships during the expedition, but that it had now come to an end. I could not believe that only three days ago, I wanted to leave. But now, all I wanted was to stay. Those tears shed on the bus signified more than just the end of a trip or a science expedition; they signified the start of my adulthood.? What you would want your future college roommate to know about you? (250)
Hi, my name is Robert Lao, I take showers every night. I love to sleep, unlike some of my other peers. I exercise in the morning. I am in a math and science enriched program. I especially love Biology. I have gone camping for science purposes. I have seen a full solar and lunar eclipse. I play the violin, piano and trumpet. I have gone to Europe to perform music. I love to play card games – especially bridge. I eat the red Smarties first. I have a coin collection which I sort into pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and loonies. I always use a ruler to draw straight lines.
I always leave my combination lock pointed at zero. I have a printout of Schrodinger’s equation in my room. I have keys that are order from smallest to largest on the key ring. I always leave a blank page in my notebook before starting to take notes. I squeeze the last ounce of toothpaste from the tube before throwing it out. I bend pages in books instead of using bookmarks. I wear earplugs to hear myself. I use my mug as a paperweight. I read between the lines. I wear my watch on my dominant hand. I like short sentences. However, I have never lived with a roommate before.
I hope that you understand. An intellectual experience (course, project, book, discussion, paper, poetry, or research topic in engineering, mathematics, science, or other modes of inquiry) that has meant the most to you. (250) Since elementary school, science has given me the answer to my countless questions about the world around me. It answered why – why does my pencil fall from the table? It answered what – what happens when you burn wood? It answered how – how does my body fight off illnesses? I was initially drawn to biology because it was the science of life, the marvel of our planet.
Life was all that I have ever known and grown up with: the birds in my backyard, the trees in my neighbourhood, my friends and family. Life was also me, my every heartbeat, and every breath. Molecular biology however held a particularly special place n my heart. My first exposure to it at a high school level marked a bend in my road of scientific pursuits. It was all about interactions between systems, proteins and chemicals. I found it incredible how complex one living organism could be on the micro level, constantly and simultaneously monitoring all the minuscule mechanisms of genetics and cell functions.
Like the life forms it investigates, biology is constantly changing and evolving. Over the years, I learned science is not simply about absorbing information from literature and lectures. It is also about making discoveries to further our current understanding. Whether it was luck or inevitability, I came across biomedical research. At times lab work was a challenge, but that is where half the fun lies. “ Does the protein interact with lipid membranes? ” This time, it is my job to find the answer. ? Why are you where you are today? (500) Canada. This is a word that describes the country where I live now.
This is a word that is the foundation of the opportunities I have had in my life and the hopes I have for the future. However, this is a word that had no meaning to me eleven years ago. Moving to Canada was unexpected. When my parents first told me about this, I was not sure what Canada was. I thought that Canada was the name of an amusement park or an elementary school. It was only when I was brought to the airport that I started to realise that Canada would not be in China. When we got to the airport I cried from the moment we left the taxi to the moment the plane landed in Canada.
Even after we landed, I was crying. I cried the day that we landed and for the week after as well because I was scared. I was frightened. This was a big change from what I had gotten used to for the first six years of my life and it seemed like I was reborn. I cried because I had no other way to express myself. I had no friends, no relatives and no home in Canada. I had just me and my parents. I begged my parents for days on end in the first month when we arrived to please go back to China. But they were adamant about their stance and we eventually settled down, not long after, to where we now live.
What I used to think was one of the worst decisions that my parents have ever made turned out to be quite the opposite. I am here in Canada because my parents wanted me to be here. Because my parents wanted me to live a life different than the one that they experience. Because my parents wanted to give me choice in my life. What I really regret is that it took me nearly eight years after landing in Canada, coinciding when I entered high school, for me to finally realize that laying a foundation and starting a life in Canada is better than in China. But at least I got to say thank you to my parents.
There are many things in life that I have no control over. Many things are given to me like the apartment that I lived in in China and the apartment that I live in now. I had no control over what would happen to me in the first few years of my life. Those years are the most important years of my life and they were left to my parents. Though I am given many things in life, I am most grateful to be given the right parents. It was my parents that made the decision to come to Canada and even though Canada had no meaning in my world eleven years ago, I am glad the word Canada did for my parents.
