Sunday, May 18, 2008

Change


I haven`t really kept the promise of being a better student. In part, it was my fault: I was just too tired to write anything that made sense. On the other hand, a bad internet connection and a lot of problems trying to get into my blog didn't exactly help me keeping the promise.

Anyways, here goes my second TOEFL essay. I have to say this thing of practicing with time hasn't really worked so fine. I always have people distracting me from that. I will try to work harder on doing everything in 30 minutes, just like in the TOEFL test...argh!! it`s getting close :s

here we go:

********* Compare yourself today and yourself five years ago. In what ways are you the same or different? Use specific examples to support your response.


Thinking of myself now and five years ago brings to my mind different feelings and ideas. The first thing that strikes me is the difference. I feel I am very different from what I used to be in so many aspects: my experiences, my responsibilities, my needs. On the other hand, I realize I am not really a different person: deep inside I can see it is still myself. The same person that was living inside me five years ago.

When time passes by and we grow up (or maybe I should say “grow older”), change is inevitable. With time, we have to go through different stages of life and, therefore, different experiences. These experiences make us see the world and our own life from different angles and perspectives. In my last five years I had mainly two experiences that made me change a lot. First, I went to college, where I learnt a lot about linguistics, but also about studying, responsibility, group-work. Second, I spent one year abroad, in the United States, which made me understand what it means to live far away from my home and family, and also made me find courage to start a new living in a new family and with new friends. Also, with time, we see that our responsibilities change. When I think of myself five years ago, I remember I used to spend many hours at the University Campus studying and talking with my friends. Nowadays this is no longer possible because I know have to earn my own money and find a nice job. Finally, I realized that my own needs changed with time. Five years ago I just wanted to study, get good grades, hang out with my friends and my boyfriend. Now this is not enough and I feel I need many things that I would not even think about before: a steady job, a nice career, my own place and also a family.

In the previous paragraph I discussed some of the main changes that happened in the last five years in my life. However, not everything changes: I am still myself. I believe that some parts of us are very unlikely to change much as time goes by. First of all, it is difficult to change personality. I might have even changed some parts of it and lost some of my bashfulness or introversion; however, these deep characteristics of my personality will never disappear and will still show up in certain situations. Second, I believe my most cherished dreams didn`t change in these past five years. My career dream of becoming a University Professor, for example, is still present in my life. Finally, my passions also didn’t change. I might have added some to the list, but the pleasure I get from reading, watching movies and writing letters or e-mails is still there.

With time, a great deal of change takes place in our lives. Nonetheless, this does not mean that we change completely into a new person. Some parts of us, mostly the ones that are deeply rooted in ourselves, still remain unchanged. For the parts that change, we have to keep in mind that change is inevitable and, most of the times, for the best.

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