Live Free or Die Hard
Living in one place isn’t living free. I was born in Tacoma Washington, raised in the Tacoma area and ended up going to college near Tacoma. Living in the same proximity has given me much gratification for my “hometown” but has not given me an opportunity to see life from a different perspective. I never had to move into
a new school district, and consequently I went my entire primary education with the same group of people. My mom worked at my elementary school so I knew most of the teachers fairly well. I lived in a community where my family was close with all of the neighbors, and it was safe for me to play soccer and late night tag without my parents being worried. Looking back over my childhood, I am realizing how blessed I was to have this safe, loving environment that stayed consistent my entire life, but it has also left me with a sheltered point of view.
Traveling to Greece was the first time I had left the country. When I was younger, my friends would talk about the family reunions and vacations they had gone on across the United States and all over Europe. I talked about my family vacations on the other side of Washington! Until I went to college, I didn’t realize how big the world actually is. Senior year, I had the opportunity to leave Washington and studying anywhere I wanted, and somehow I ended up at a University 30 miles from home. It didn’t bother me saying goodbye to friends that were off
on a new adventure on the East Coast. I was content “going away” to PLU and staying in the Pacific Northwest. My first year at school, I knew that I wanted to see so much more of the world. I was dying to leave Parkland and get away from the state that had been known as my home. I knew that there was more to life than what I had experienced, and I wouldn’t be able to gather it if it I continued to stay in my Washington bubble. I was contently living my life, but I wasn’t living it to the fullest. My daily routine consisted of the norm for a college student. Leaving PLU and my Tacoma area community, I have been able to see the world in a different light. At home, it is easy to get caught up in how I will survive dead week, or constantly think about finishing a paper in time, but Greece has given me different kind of questions that run through my head. I now ask myself how I can not only make an impact in my home community, but how I can contribute on a larger scale. How can I take the occupation I am pas
sionate about and apply that to living in another country? I realize that I have a burning desire to work at a hospital abroad. I think about all these whispering questions and know that if I don’t answer them, then I am not living my life to the fullest.
Living in one place isn’t living free. I was born in Tacoma Washington, raised in the Tacoma area and ended up going to college near Tacoma. Living in the same proximity has given me much gratification for my “hometown” but has not given me an opportunity to see life from a different perspective. I never had to move into
a new school district, and consequently I went my entire primary education with the same group of people. My mom worked at my elementary school so I knew most of the teachers fairly well. I lived in a community where my family was close with all of the neighbors, and it was safe for me to play soccer and late night tag without my parents being worried. Looking back over my childhood, I am realizing how blessed I was to have this safe, loving environment that stayed consistent my entire life, but it has also left me with a sheltered point of view.Traveling to Greece was the first time I had left the country. When I was younger, my friends would talk about the family reunions and vacations they had gone on across the United States and all over Europe. I talked about my family vacations on the other side of Washington! Until I went to college, I didn’t realize how big the world actually is. Senior year, I had the opportunity to leave Washington and studying anywhere I wanted, and somehow I ended up at a University 30 miles from home. It didn’t bother me saying goodbye to friends that were off
on a new adventure on the East Coast. I was content “going away” to PLU and staying in the Pacific Northwest. My first year at school, I knew that I wanted to see so much more of the world. I was dying to leave Parkland and get away from the state that had been known as my home. I knew that there was more to life than what I had experienced, and I wouldn’t be able to gather it if it I continued to stay in my Washington bubble. I was contently living my life, but I wasn’t living it to the fullest. My daily routine consisted of the norm for a college student. Leaving PLU and my Tacoma area community, I have been able to see the world in a different light. At home, it is easy to get caught up in how I will survive dead week, or constantly think about finishing a paper in time, but Greece has given me different kind of questions that run through my head. I now ask myself how I can not only make an impact in my home community, but how I can contribute on a larger scale. How can I take the occupation I am pas
sionate about and apply that to living in another country? I realize that I have a burning desire to work at a hospital abroad. I think about all these whispering questions and know that if I don’t answer them, then I am not living my life to the fullest. 
No comments:
Post a Comment