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Essay On Personal Life

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Personal Essay

Coming from a country that is so culturally different from the United States, I have been given a unique perspective to the societal ideals of America and the world of academia. I was born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece, and trying to depart my home country to study in the US was a personal challenge for me to overcome.

The problem at the time was not only I had to be admitted to a college that I could afford to attend, but it was also that I was getting social pressure from family, relatives, and friends to give up on my aspirations. To my extensive and close family, what I was trying to achieve was perceived as an abandonment to their ideals. Greece is a very family centric society, and it is not common for family members to …show more content…

I hope that with my personal success I can keep inspiring confidence to people from my community to achieve more and work harder. I am not the best, but I have come a long way from where I started. I always strive to improve and better myself. I always seek knowledge and truth. I am grateful for all the good things; my family and community has provided to me. I am content about the way they shaped me and I am optimistic as to what the future holds for me. And just like the poem of Constantine Kavafis in regards to the epic of Odyssey. He concludes that it is the journey that matters, not the destination (Ithaca):

“…Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
So you're old by the time you reach the island,
Wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
Not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.
Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of

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