this better get me into college.
There are people that believe that the environment a child grows up in will correspond to their behaviors and philosophies as an adult. As of right now, I have yet to decide if I am living proof for or against that statement.
Apollo, Pennsylvania. With an approximated population of around 1,895, an estimated four churches per square mile and an equal amount of drinking establishments, Apollo surely fits the small-town stereotype. Even more so when you take into account the actual inhabitants. By no means am I a professional demographer but were I to hazard a guess, I would say that the majority of the town's inhabitants are white, conservative members of a nuclear family, having or being one of the average 2.5 children.
And then you have me. At only the age of nearly-eighteen, I have a life story that could make me a star of my own Lifetime special - the details of which are worthy of another essay on its own. Of course, most teenagers experience that feeling of rebellion and dissatisfaction of their hometown, the “nobody here understands who I am” that they quickly grow out of as they mature . That feeling runs much deeper within myself. In all honesty, I still harbor that teenage grudge against my hometown for stifling my open-minded, dreamer attitude with their demands of normalcy. But at the same time, I find myself thankful for their closed minds for causing me to take it upon myself to discover the differences in lifestyles existing in the world today.
As it may or may not be aware from the rest of my application, I have aspirations of becoming a linguist. A city with such a diverse background as Pittsburgh is clearly relevant to my education and my future. Of course, one can learn of language and culture in any setting. But to actually experience a language, experience a culture, the person has to live them. A small, rural community where the only languages spoken are American English and Equine is and will be detrimental to my life's desire. In my quest to become a polyglot and discover as much of language as I can, I've read countless times that a person learns their language of choice by immersion more than study. Opportunity for immersion is exactly what I hope for if given the chance to study at the University of Pittsburgh.
Not only will attending a university with such overwhelming diversity as your own affect my education's future, but my own personality as well. As a person, I have never been satisfied with the normative. I loathe being told only of “the right side” of the story, to live a life surrounded by black, secluded from white, and assured that a grey is nonexistent. I want to live every aspect of life and make my own decisions based upon my own experience. I want my life to be a library - with each person I encounter daily to be a new story instead of the same authors plagiarizing off one another. By the end of my years, I want that library to be filled with as many books that can fit on its shelves.
And so it is that I have no clear answer of whether or not being raised the area I have has affected my personality and beliefs. One person could take a look at the stereotypical Apollonian, another at me, and notice nothing in common save perhaps our basic human features. This person would tell you how obviously I contradict the earlier statement. However, another may also take those same two glances and realize that my desire to be anything but am “Apollo-brand” person is what made me who I am today.