Nonfiction - Page 4

Boglárka Emese Polgár

When we are born we wake up in a room; we open our eyes in a new environment. Everything surrounding us is new; we have to decide what our goal is in our life and what kind of person we want to become. Of course as a little child we can’t make this decision, and even if we could, it wouldn’t be necessary. This is a long path that we have to “walk” until we figure out what we are like and what we want to do in the end. This path isn’t easy. It has ups and downs, but in the end there is a calm and bright place. Even sometimes if we think our life is dark and has a sad ending. By saying that, I mean that if you find yourself in a difficult situation and you are not happy at that particular place in your life, that means that it is not your final destination, you still haven’t arrived at your end of your path, so you have to move forward and “If you are going through hell, keep going. Why would you stop in hell?” I heard this quote from Steve Harvey, and I agree with it. I believe in destiny and that everything happens for a reason, and it’s okay to make mistakes in our life, because we learn from them, and our actions make us who we are. Not all of these actions are right and have a positive income, but we can make up for them and apologize.

But as I mentioned before, there is always a right ending for things, and there is always a solution even if it’s hard to find. If all the doors are closed, you have to use a window to break out, to change the place you are in, and this is a long process, and change is never a comfortable thing. When it feels scary to jump, that’s exactly when you jump, otherwise you end up staying in one place for the rest of your life, and nobody wants that.

Life is about learning and experiencing new things, and we have to take lessons to grow each day little by little.

Áron Antal

Now I am writing this college essay. At this very instant I am gaining knowledge, acquiring new information and getting to see new aspects. This I never have done.

Life is basically the same; even familiar situations, events and actions that happen every day are different in small detail, and even if you can’t recognise it, you gain new experience with each nanosecond passing. I heard once that at the moment of your death, you are the wisest you have ever been. And applying sort of the same principle, I know the most in this very instant that I write these words down. I have become wiser since I started to write this letter. But let’s put away the philosophy, and focus on facts, and let me prove that I would be a worthy student for engineering:

I wouldn’t consider myself egoistic, but even the shyest person has something to acknowledge oneself by. My achievements include passing a C1 language exam at the age of 16, completing secondary school not at the top of the class but still with great results, but I think my greatest genius lies in my free time activity: fixing motorcycles.

By fixing motorcycles, I don’t just mean renewing old bikes, not by a long shot. I have bought and made projects for myself. I have owned and worked on more than thirty different motorcycles, and I am currently owner of seven motorbikes, three of which are experimental. By myself I have learned the basics of engine operation, then done extensive research to best understand every little detail of motorcycle engines. While doing so, I made some experiments: learned fine tuning of carburetors and increasing engine efficiency, and succeeded in building a Yamaha 1YU Mint scooter with a manufacture single speed transmission, 50cc 2 stroke with its factory carburetor, designed for a max speed of 45km/h to exceed 85km/h, of course with a serious decrease in engine lifespan. Also I made experiments to achieve better fuel consumption while gaining greater power output on several 4 stroke 50-125cc 4 / 3+1 / 1+1 speed Honda licensed engines with carburetors, with great success, reducing factory fuel consumption on long distances by 10% and increasing power output with fine adjustment by 15%. I have also mastered the art of electronics, hydraulic systems and shock absorbers, welding, spray painting, aerodynamics, intake and exhaust fume airflow, increasing drum brake efficiency and much more.

I also have knowledge and experience in operating and the theoretical function of several kinds of heavy and agricultural machinery, as well cars and utility vehicles.

But I have other aspects besides just being a great mind in engineering. My other great attribute is that I consider myself and am considered open towards learning about new things, meeting new people, being accepting, caring, patient, polite, well-adjusted, obedient, trustworthy, and so on. Let this not fool you, though; I am still not perfect, but I am always improving.

As you can see, I have endless interest in the field of engineering, which I would like to further expand in the future.

And to return to the metaphor I started my essay with, I—and you, Sir/Madam, reading this application letter—have gained more experience and become wiser by getting to know me a little bit. And by the time I finish college, I at this present will seem a bit unwise compared to the I in the present of the future.

Alexandra Klaudia Süveges

As a kid, I constantly got bored of things easily. My parents attempted to exceed my expectations by buying presents that could serve a higher level of entertainment. I often got dolls, houses corresponding to them, and makeshift arts and crafts. Nothing kept my eyes glued to it for more than a few hours. I put it into my treasure box and let it become alien to me until one day I’d open it and find interest again.

Until one day I grew up enough to understand what I had been doing wrong.

As an only child, with my parents working overtime, I had to stay in the school’s daycare until the sky grew dark and cloudy. Born gifted, I didn’t have anything to study, I’d recall the lessons word by word, I was utterly bored. Ignorance took the worst of me and I had no one to talk to and just sat in a corner until closing.

For my twelfth birthday, I got a one-of-a-kind gift, something I could not put anywhere. My parents bought me a chess set.

“But mom… I don’t have anyone to play with”—was my response throughout the day. She might not have known how I cared more about my grades than social interactions, but board games were there, impossible to play alone.

So I took the polystyrene box and packed the elements on the black and white checked board. Sixteen see-through, gleaming and polished chess figures, scattered all around the last corner of the classroom. I, myself, do not know what I was thinking while waiting for anyone to come and play with me. Not thinking much of it, I started reading the rules provided in the box.

“Can I play with you?” one of my classmates said, I had never really talked with her before, but this was my only chance. I motioned to her to sit down, and we started the match.

I lost.

The daycare ended, and I had to be shaken back to reality. Why did I lose? Wasn’t I supposed to be the best at everything? Why did she leave smiling, as if she hadn’t proven I could be pushed away from perfection?

From that day on I tried harder and harder in school, but not in learning. I was curious to see how she’d beaten me despite not being on my level. She had a lot of friends with somewhat good grades. I wanted to be like that. I had fed myself that I needed to be lonely to maintain a standard for others.

Opening up to people was extremely difficult; I was known for my maximalism and somewhat of a nerd, but they accepted me and made me become warmer towards others. They opened my eyes to how perfection doesn’t equal values such as grades, and how good you can pretend your life is while it’s falling apart from lack of affection.

It seems to have worked, although, to this day, I have no idea how to play chess.

Lídia Borbála Szabó

The heart of a human might be the most interesting and twisted thing we could ever encounter.

It has no map that could help us through the labyrinth of emotions that in one corner embraces us in a hug and in another attacks us with its claws. These feelings that we meet along the way could invite us in with a smile and a tap on the shoulder or could make our sturdiness and confidence evaporate. Most of us are scared to even enter our own labyrinth, let alone set a foot in someone else’s. And yet, in order to get a closer look at someone we love, we have to understand the root of their emotions.

The fascinating part is that there are people who find their way through this maze with their eyes closed. They know exactly what to do or say to force a door open. They waltz through the complexity as if it were nothing. For them, a human heart is just a straight labyrinth, almost too easy to solve. Between two chuckles, they solve riddles that others have to work on for years.

I’m not one of these people, but some part of me appreciates that. Even though it is hard to sometimes have no clue of what I feel or what I make others feel about me, this mystery is nothing but entertainment.

Petra Varga

It’s a really strange fact that we are always thinking of something. There is no such thing as a state when nothing goes on in our mind. During quarantine, I was alone. All day and every day. Only me and my thoughts. I always believed they were disturbing me because I was told what to think most of the time and my own off-topic stuff going on in my head confused me about what I was told to think. After a few weeks, I had gotten tired of reading, petting my dogs, watching films, etc., and all of my leisure activities. I lay down on my bed and afforded myself the luxury of thinking whatever I wanted. As time passed, it turned out that my thoughts were pretty interesting. I tried to experience all the little details of my mind, and they started to straighten up for me. I just watched my lamp for hours, having some conversation with myself, a little projection with my memories, some laughing and crying together. A whole program was created with no one, nowhere but at the same time with everyone from anywhere, whenever I wanted. My mind became a straight labyrinth for me, and that became the biggest gift that I could give myself.

 When I first saw this assignment, I had an idea of writing a haiku, but then I saw the word limitation. I’ve always wanted to try one, so I started to think of another meaning of straight labyrinth, and I had an idea that I could identify it as overthinking (my sport :-)) . When we are overthinking we have a statement, we start to complicate it as far as we can, but in the end, we go back to the roots of our thought process.

Straight labyrinth (for me 2.0)

I had a thought,
But then another came.
Just overthinked.

Lili Dorottya Galics

You see him or her somewhere, maybe you think he or she is sympathetic or whatever. You introduce yourselves to each other; this is followed by a common and awkward conversation mainly about nothing, but that nothing is something. Both of you feel that something that you want to continue, mayhaps there could be more in it. Slowly a never-ending story starts, including talking to each other 0-24, sharing every inessential moment in your day, time travelling in both of your pasts and future dreams. These conversations and this time period feels amazing, but in many cases people do not show their real faces. Most of their behaviour is just excellent acts and colourful pretty coated lies. In turn, at this point you have totally fallen in love with each other, you got in a relationship. You love and also you feel loved, but love is never this easy to understand. The pink clouds disappear with time, now you know every habit, small signs and the real love language of the other person. From now on you can go through many many doors, each one bringing unforgettable memories, but walls could come up against you. You decide that you break into them and see doors again together, or you let the walls stop you and the never-ending story comes to an end.

Laura Móra

I asked many of my classmates what they were going to write about, because I had no idea at first. Most of them said that they just compared the straight labyrinth to life, but it was too ordinary for me. So I kept thinking about what I should write about, even in other classes. Every time I had a good idea, I overthought it and it became a bad idea, as it wasn’t special enough or the answer didn’t suit my personality and I always found some mistake in it. Then I realized that it was the straight labyrinth itself: I have an idea of what to write, and I know what I want the end of the story to be, but I don’t know the middle of the text. I could go so many ways, I could go in one direction, but after a wrong sentence in a story I couldn’t continue it, just like dead end in a labyrinth. So in the middle of the story I have to find the way out, just as in the labyrinth, but after reading it, it is straight: it has a beginning, a middle part and an end, yet it is more complicated than that.

Kázmér Ádám Kaposvári

We have all seen pictures and videos of gardens that just blow our minds, maybe because of their beauty, complexity, the variety in the vegetation, or the many many exotic plants. We all wish we had a garden like that.

I live in a house with a rather big yard, but let me tell you, it is not even near the standards for being on a magazine page. When we take a look at these perfect landscapes we never think of the hard work that goes into them and the struggle of the people who tend to them. Even now I can remember the renovation of our lawn as it was full of burnt-out yellow patches. My father and I thought we would be ready after a few days of work. Well, it turned out to be a whole month after all. First, one of the automatic underground sprinklers was not functioning. After digging it up and patching up a little crack in the pipeline, we removed the top layer of dead grass, then filled it up with fresh humus and new grass seeds. At this point it seemed so easy and we had a straight plan. But as soon as we began to test the water systems, the real search in the labyrinth began. At not one, but multiple points over the field of dry land, circles of darker dirt appeared. This meant the worst: we had made leaks in the pipes while removing the top layer of grass. It took us weeks to uncover and dig up every last one of the cracks, but furthermore, we found many old pipe connectors that were already leaking some water as they had been degrading over time.

As of today it looks fine, but back then it was like a crazy maze that had no way out no matter how hard we were searching.

Gergely Sülye

If you have ever pondered life’s greatest questions, you have most likely stumbled upon the topic of free will. This question has a lot of branches, most commonly popularized by Libet’s, very flawed, experiment, which focused on disproving free will via explaining how consciousness itself is a fake phenomenon. True or not, that’s still not the most exciting direction to take; after all, it doesn’t take much to realize your brain is a really complicated string of dominoes reacting to stimulus in intricate processes, and even if we can’t pinpoint what’s really going on, we can still reasonably guess everything works based on cause and effect. No need for experiments there.

Now, what would make things really exciting would be to broaden our horizons and look at a bigger picture, the universe as a whole. Well, actually, to explain things fast let’s shrink back our perspectives just for a bit.

In this very moment imagine you held a set of dice. Now throw it. Now, with a bit more creativity, imagine a time machine that can turn back time. One that has its own set of rules, mainly that it can’t bring anything back, so it can only roll time itself back to a specific point. Let’s say that point was a few seconds ago when you first threw the dice. Unsurprisingly, the number you get would be the same. Of course the “past you” wouldn’t be aware that time was rerolled.

Now roll time back to yesterday, or earlier, and so on and so forth, even to the beginning of the universe. If we let it play out, since we have not changed absolutely anything about the past by rerolling time, everything would turn out exactly the same if we waited enough time. You would roll the same number.

Your life plays out the same, everything is unchanged. This means that at the earliest point we can rewind time to, the beginning of the universe, whatever that event might have been, at that exact moment your entire life, or more broadly the fate of the entire world was determined. Your every thought, movement, down to the exact location of every atom or particle in the entire universe.

So the next time you think you are about to face a life-changing decision, contrary to what popular science fiction might have you believe, you aren’t about to create split-realities where alternate things have happened. Whatever conclusion you arrive at will be the one and only possible choice you ever had. And now you can make peace with that fact or have an existential crisis about it.

Áron Antal

We are born innocent and unknowing of our surroundings, and we become who we are by being exposed to the world. At least that’s what I think, even though some of my elder family members might disagree with me on this issue. My grandpa always told me that all people carry some of their personality traits when they are born, and nothing can change them. He thinks this because my mom and her brother differ greatly; while my mother was helpful, understanding, clever and followed the rules, my uncle always got himself into trouble, didn’t play by the rules, and barely finished secondary school. Still, both of them grew up to be great adults, exceedingly good at their jobs.

But when my mother and my uncle were growing up, well, life was much easier back then. For me it would have been. No rat-race life, fewer things to worry about, more freedom, no cellphones, and the list could go on. Yet our long-forgotten ancestors would say that when they used to live, there were no cars, no trains, no airplanes, no public utilities. The fact of the matter is that circumstances have become more comfortable yet more complex over time as human civilizations thrived and progressed. And with great comfort comes great dependency.

In today’s society, we have less free time, rush here, go there, buy things and so on. We want happiness, friends, people that admire us, fame and beauty in true 21^st century fashion.

What greatly disappoints me nowadays is the fact that more and more people are becoming so self-centered, maybe thanks to radical improvements on the one hand and quarantine on the other, that they stop caring about each other. Or maybe these people show caring sometimes, but mostly so that they can get affection from others. Such people are manipulative and greedy. They always try to come across as the best, the cleverest, the most beautiful, and they know they are not, but still, they can’t bear the slightest kind of confrontation or being faced with the sheer reality of situations, though their methods of “self defense” might differ greatly. They are lost in their imaginary worlds, where everything is perfect, nothing they say is wrong, and they are totally in control of their lives. They usually rack their brain for hours on end over things that in the long run will not matter, and they love to complain.

Maybe my emotional intelligence is just too high, maybe I am more advanced in mind than I should be for my almost seventeen years spent on this little wet ball of mud, so unimaginably small compared to the universe. Yet, maybe I am wrong, why should I be right, because no one can truly understand life. It just seems to me that a lot of people just waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Because life is much more simple than most people interpret it to be. Unlike anything else, such as banking, relationships etc, life has one big certainty; if you were born, you will die. That is life basically. However, between you being born and you dying, only uncertain events will unfold and happen, uncertain events that are non-predetermined, and you will get the chance to turn them into opportunities towards living your life as truly as possible. Next time you go on a trip, travel, or do something, just try to admire what is happening to you, and try to grasp the fact that each and every nanosecond of your life cannot be repeated. Try to focus, understand, help others, learn to love yourself, accept failure, learn to express yourself, explore what life has to offer and make your choices dependent on only the people that really matter to you and to yourself. Don’t worry about everything, don’t be afraid to back out of things, do something that other people disagree with. Just one important thing that you should bear in mind: try not to hurt anyone. And remember: whatever happens, happens. These are the principles that I live by.

Yet it would seem that some people are incapable of changing, and I accept that. But I just feel a bit lost in this world, and always ask myself the question: how can people live, with their minds so closed? Maybe I will never understand, and I am fine with that, as long as I am confident in what my life stands for.