Rachel's Personal Statement
The picture of a maple leaf in my room often reminds me of my exchange visit to Canada in the second year of high school. Numerous anecdotes flash back, while the fourteen days spent with my host family are indeed the highlight.
My home stay partner, Teen, visited Shanghai the previous year, seeing her again in Canada soothed my uneasiness in an unfamiliar environment to some extent. However, how to join a family was something weighing on my mind.
Teen’s parents were very nice, but they worked at night while I spent most of a day at school, so when Teen and I got back, the big house was merely left with her two elder brothers, Ricky and Joey. Frankly speaking, I found it rather awkward when being around them at first because they seemed a bit distant. Despite some small talk, I didn’t have the chance to get better acquainted with them. Nevertheless, the distance between us was dramatically shortened by baseball. They were watching a live baseball game one day when I walked by. “If only I could understand it”, said I in passing. “We can fill you in if you want.” said Ricky. “That’s great!” The next second, I was sitting in the sofa with my eyes fixed on the screen. They explained the rules and commentated the game excitedly while I tried hard to follow them. Time ticked away, we had fun and I did get the basic ideas of baseball!
Everyday spent with the family was dotted with my first-time experiences: my first time to drive a kart, my first time to watch a horror movie, my first time to groom a horse, to name but a few. We got familiar with each other gradually. For one thing, they agreed to let me help with the housework, which made me feel like a member of the family. Plus, I finally got a chance to try the lawn mower. We sometimes sat scattered on the floor, enjoying unhealthy midnight snacks. I tried to teach them how to use the chopsticks. Regardless of the result, we had fun, especially when Joey stuck the two sticks in his mouth, pretending to be a mammoth.
Those days in Canada were etched indelibly in my mind, making it a sweet memory that will not fade out.
Rachel, a first-year student at Fudan University in Shanghai, wrote her personal statement for a writing assignment in College English class in multiple drafts and with comments from her peer partners and the instructor.