Global Education Scholarship - 2nd Place
Nicholette DeRosia
Western State College of Colorado
Question: "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."
- Voltaire, French Writer and Philosopher
Please come up with your own study abroad related scholarship question and accompanying essay answer.
You are sitting down with your grandmother, who has never traveled further than Las Vegas, and cannot understand why anyone would want to cross an ocean if they did not have to. How could you explain your reasoning for doing so?
An Unbeaten Track
Joseph Campbell once said, “We must be willing to relinquish the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” This concept is a guiding force and an accurate reflection of my need to travel and study abroad. If I had to put my reasoning in my own words it would be very similar to Joseph’s; sometimes you need to just let go and try something new to find out what you are truly capable of doing. I feel that putting myself into an entirely new situation, will force me to give up my compulsive planning, and just live life. While I am sure that there will still be the necessity to make plans I trust that the journey I am about to take will allow me to break free of my old conceptions of how life ought to be, and tap into what it can be. I believe that this opportunity will flip my life on its head.
The best part about the experience is that even in my plans to go abroad; I have a difficult time planning. I can do research, and talk to past travelers, but I simple cannot know what is in store for me. Part of this is quite freighting; going to a new place, not knowing anyone, and having nothing familiar for comfort. This is the most intimidating part, but it is also the greatest part. What could be a better challenge for a girl who spends half her time taking down notes and deadlines in her planner? Going abroad prohibits me from muddying my mind with expectations; I just have to go in, full bore and experience life, because that is the only option.
I cannot imagine anything that could be more exciting, rewarding, and enriching than something like this. What better way to learn is there than being fully immersed in human experience? There is no distraction by expectation, no time to get bored and bogged down by the hum drum, just life as it should be. Each day will be something new, something to wake me up, and really teach me something that I cannot find in books or at home. The famous thinker, Henry David Thoreau once said, “Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves.” I agree with him whole-heartedly, and I never want to find myself stuck in one life, making a tedious track out of my life. I would have to tell my grandmother that I have loved my life, but it is time for something new and exciting; something that can help me become the best person I can be, and I think she would want that.
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