Expanding my Horizon by Sophia

Expanding my Horizon by Sophia - November 2017 Scholarship Essay

Have you ever felt like you were in a box and no matter how far you wandered you always seem to stay confined within the four walls you created? Lightly put it's a scary feeling. It's terrifying to think that it’s possible for you to always be trapped within your small box, never able to experience life outside your walls. This is basically how life is without traveling. When someone travels it's inevitable that they grow and evolve as a person, and if someone is never granted the opportunity travel how are they supposed to do that?. They would forever be the same small minded person trapped inside the walls they've seen their whole life. Therefore if I was granted the opportunity to travel abroad in college I would use that amazing opportunity to grow my mind.

Now when I say “grow my mind”, I don't literally mean make my brain bigger, what I am saying is that I would expand my knowledge on the world around me. The world around me offers fathomless amounts of knowledge and limitless perspectives that I would steal greedily and stuff away into my satchel of knowledge. I would use my experiences from studying abroad, in say Switzerland or Kenya, to make myself a well-rounded individual. No longer would I be limited to the thoughts that I have been brain washed into believing; now I would have the ability to go beyond my own ignorant mind and create a unique thought of my own. Thus through the wonderful experience of traveling abroad I would essentially build a new me and this would impact my college education in multiple ways. For starters I would be more intelligent and able to think in color now rather than black and white. This would help with critical thinking questions and analytical thought processes I’m bound to need to complete in college. Additionally through meeting new people and experiencing new things I might be influenced to finally decide on a major in college. Currently I am undecided, but perhaps by expanding my horizons I may be given the spark I need to finalize my major.

Traveling abroad is a spectacular opportunity that I would 110% pursue if given the opportunity in college. What, with the amount of wisdom I can gain from the trip as well as the life experience I can develop, studying abroad is pretty much a no brainr for me.