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Personal Narrative: Beneath The Surface

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PROMPT 1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Beneath the Surface I will never have my father’s smile or my mother’s eyes, and my skin tone will never match their pale skin, even though I am their daughter. My siblings and I do not have any traces of our parents’ DNA in our bodies because we are all adopted. Growing up in this unique household showed me the world from another perspective when my family and I embarked on a journey to adopt my younger sister from China. Traveling back to my birth country shaped me into the person I am today because I have become open-minded …show more content…
For 10 years, I perceived privileges as leverages influencing a society’s social strata, but then I learned how privileges affected people beyond their stature. Leaving America resulted in me stepping out of my comfort zone since clean drinking water and internet access were distant luxuries. Seeing the distinction between living a privileged life and the life of the working class broadened my perspective. when a Chinese local cooked a supper for my family inside of her home. As my eyes wandered around the inside of her barely furnished flat, I wondered where the cable and indoor bathrooms were. After being incessantly served dishes in a home without heat, I realized having an indoor kitchen and electricity were common aspects of a privileged life I had in America. Whereas in China, these essentials were also things people could not afford nor chose to invest in. Being exposed to cultural variation helped me acknowledge that there was no handbook that told someone their life’s capabilities or what they can and cannot own or do. Accepting the idea that people can diverge from social norms influenced me to become open-minded. Since I realized being narrow-minded will limit my personal growth. My time in China helped me understand that privileges are simple aspects of everyday life that others may not have access to and it encouraged me to appreciate cultural

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