The Essay Sample:Apply for Macalester College
How do you resolve culture conflicts
Describe a situation where you had to work or closely associate with someone from a culture very different from your own. What challenges did you face and how did you resolve them?

個人分析：此處它的問點是想知道你如何解決文化差異而非什么樣的文化差異，我的切入點是談我怎樣和跟我性格不同的人交朋友。

I think the key to resolving differences and connecting with others is to think for ourselves and find the right balance, then take responsibility to change ourselves, which is the golden mean of Confucius.

During elementary school, I felt lonely, invisible, and world‐weary. My teachers did not like me because I was not a model student who studied for hours and followed instructions, and I had trouble making friends with my hard‐working classmates. Nor did I fit in with the miscreants and drop‐outs, the rebels. We were different. I resigned myself to spending my free time alone reading books and playing on the Internet.

When I was eight, I moved with my mother and stepfather to a small suburban community and I entered a new school. My new classmates were amazing: they had started studying English one year before I did and learned much more due to the small class size. Though they were friendly, I was reluctant to make friends because I felt a gulf of differences divided us. Still, I confined myself to my own world, even though my loneliness always saddened me.

In the Chinese class, my teacher Mrs.Liang required us to write a daily essay on a topic of our choice. With nothing assigned, I started to write my own thoughts, expressing my sorrow and loneliness to another person for the first time. She read every essay carefully and responded with thoughtful comments. She asked me not to think of myself as a victim of the world. “The golden mean of Confucius taught us that virtue lies in finding a proper balance,” She wrote. ” Even if we dislike something, we should appreciate its positive aspects. For instance, our tradition emphasizes following instructions, but we also need to think on our own. You may not want to be a stereotypical student, but diligence is essential to achieving your goals.” She added, “I think your loneliness resulted from your prejudice against others, not the environment” Finally, I realized that I shaped myself to be a lonely person, one who felt profoundly culturally different despite being culturally the same.

Luckily, writing my thoughts served as a turning point for me. I gradually began to understand the philosophy of Confucius, from which I found I needed to change myself, since I could not change the environment. I started to reach out to others, and become the person I wanted to be. I joined my school basketball team and shared my of knowledge computer to make friends. I also forged a number of #p#分頁標題#e#http://www.400190.comstrong friendships with the “stereotypical” students, from whom I learned appropriate study habits. My previous attitude had prevented me from changing and resulted in my loneliness. Now I accepted myself and understood how to find balance in my attitudes and connect with different people.

Two years later, my mother divorced again. We moved back and left my beloved teachers and friends. However, I didn’t feel overwhelmed by the challenges of meeting new people and adapting to the junior high school. Instead of isolating myself again, I enjoyed the diversity among people and I expected others to appreciate my uniqueness, just as I did. This was my most profound cultural experience: learning to relate myself to the world as well.