Lindsey Allen

I am complicated. I am simple. I am conflicting. I am a volleyball player. I am a scuba diver. I am an artist. I am a student. I am all the things that define me and more. That is what I hate to define - myself. Because how can you define yourself by just one thing? I believe I am made up of all of the things that I do, all of the things that I enjoy, and everything that has an effect on me. I am constantly changing. How can you define something that is never the same thing? But still, I plan to make a strong attempt. I value many things about myself, but I am most proud of my adventurous spirit. I ride horses, scuba dive, rock climb, snow ski, kayak, and travel. My spirit for adventure fuels my lust for travel, because as I have found, traveling and adventure accompany each other. I have traveled to the Grand Bahamas, Jamaica, Mexico, Spain, and several states in the United States. In each environment I experienced a new culture, and no culture was better than another, but each culture offered new and engaging experiences. In the Bahamas I learned to scuba dive, and in Jamaica I hiked up Dunn's River Falls. In Utah I learned to ski, and in Wyoming I spent a week riding horses on over 100 acres. I traveled to Spain with a prestigious chorus group from Atlanta, without my family, for a week of singing competitions. I believe that challenging myself to try new things and experience places that may seem foreign and intimidating has developed my character. I feel that this relates back to the theme of our entire semester of english. Considering this was a multicultural class, we focused naturally on the cultural aspects of every piece we studied. I thoroughly enjoyed analyzing literature from foreign cultures, and the traditions and qualities of each culture spurred my creativity for every essay. Learning about the traditions of each culture reminded me of the new experiences I gained when traveling to each new place. Without these experiences, I may have viewed this class differently, and with a more close-minded approach. Venturing outside of the comfort of the suburbs of Atlanta, or even the United States for that matter, has made me an open-minded person with a positive outlook concerning new things. This viewpoint shapes my writing, and gives me the style of writing that I feel makes my essays unique.