recently seen quite a few people posting/translating their college app essays...i found mine. looking back, there are parts that i like and parts that i found myself frowning upon. overall, its not too terrible but could've been a lot better if i had devoted more time to write it haha
Why do people believe in fairy tales and happy endings? Why do little girls wish to be princesses with big tall castles? Why do young women fantasize about chivalrous Prince Charmings?
Even I had wanted to dine with silverware, sleep until noon in my lofty canopy bed, and dance in soft satin shoes. But what fascinated me the most were the hopes that castles embody. Châteaux, castillo, castelli, castelo – in every language, the word “castle” has a certain enchanted meaning. The spiraling pinnacles reaching for the sky dare humans to think the impossible. While the soaring heights and enormity of castles seem unreal, their mere existence proves the opposite.
With these thoughts, I walked into my first castle, Alcázar of Segovia, in Spain. Alcázar’s – “fortress” in Spanish – rough exterior did not mirror the delicate walls of the castles of my dreams. Its roof of sharp slate spires was far from elegance. Inside, the light struggled to come through the aged, tinted windows.
Where was my grand ballroom with crystal chandeliers? I searched frantically through the Alcázar brochure in my hand as I stumbled into a chamber with two mullioned windows. An exquisite mural painting appeared in front of me; in the center stood a young lady dressed in white, wearing a gold crown.
My mind traveled back to the road trip during which Carmen, my Spanish correspondent, and Mercedes, my host “mom”, conversed animatedly about the monarchs of Spain, trying to count all the Alfonsos, Ferdinands, and Isabellas. Could this be a painting of one of the most famous queens – Isabella the Catholic? It never occurred to me that a woman like Queen Isabella would have ever lived in such an unadorned castle.
Yet, I began to comprehend: the castle was only a symbol of power and authority while its inhabitants were the ones that created history, adding invisible sophistication to the castle. Underneath the dull surface of the parched walls and faded splendor laid the sagas of human success and failure.
As I climbed the strenuous spiral staircase to the top of the castle, seeking to view the grandeur of Segovia, I imagined Isabella doing the same more than six hundreds years ago. Perhaps, she too wondered about dreams, enchanted tales, and the complex nature of reality. Perhaps, she too had to face extremely conflicting choices, for instance, in the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims in Spain.
Realizing that even fairytale-like queens experienced turmoil and setbacks, I felt that I could no longer run away from my fears of failure, the difficult mission to master a new language, the seemingly impossible task to blend my two cultures – the American and the Chinese – to hide behind the surreal happiness of princess tales. Without the acknowledgment of reality, hopes and dreams are as empty as a castle without its past. These ideals will only disappoint me for I need to break my own barriers and write my own fairytale, even if it has flaws. Confidently, I started my first chapter.
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