2017 | Student, Berlin
Eisenacherstraße, Berlin
One of my most meaningful experiences coming-of-age was my summer abroad in Berlin, Germany.
I wrote the following for use in the official CIEE blog spot:
"Today my program leader Aaron asked me if I would be willing to wright something up over my experiences in Germany. I believe it is worth noting that my experience will most definitely vary from others.
When I came to Deutschland I had the purpose of becoming a more fluent speaker. Not as in meaning that I am an expert in the language, but that I understand and can speak in conversation with a flow of exchanges.
When I come home at 18:00 on most weekdays I speak only German with my host family. This is not something that everyone does, but perhaps they came here with other motives. Over the last few weeks I have learned about twice the German I knew already after 2 years in school. CIEE has been in command over the activities, classes and excursions.
When I considered coming to Germany last year I didn’t consider the people that I would be spending time with. When I looked at all the different possible programs I had to find a higher quality of class, but I may have simply gotten lucky. CIEE hosts different guest speakers and trips on the weekend or following classes. I think the classes lead one in the direction of discovery, but you cannot get out what you don’t put in."
Colin Myers, June 29. 2017
2014+ | The Arts
I attribute music with passion, creativity, and discipline. Music can be fun, it can also be measured, calculated and executed through performance. This lesson is embodied from quote from my high school show choir teacher:
"The right note at the wrong time, is the wrong note."
Through my experience with the Carmel Ambassadors, I learned that hard work is required to perform at a high level, a lesson I would learn again in college.
During and since college, I have found that I most connect to music through dance. I competed with the IU ballroom dance team throughout my college career.
2014+ | Strategy
As a freshmen in high school, I attended weekly Magic: The Gathering tournaments (whenever I could get my parents to take me) and lost. A lot. I was determined though, and watched all the pros play on YouTube before bed each night. I paid attention to the intricacy of the rules, even used them to my advantage. After a while, I did start to win.
I found that nature plays by rules too, and my curiosity provided me the same obsession with physics, and later circuitry.
2020+ | Swimming
After an unsuccessful freshmen year of college, I became convinced after a meaningful conversation with my dad that my slacking would lead to an unhappy life. This, paired with a caveat that required a 3.5 GPA minimum upon return to school, motivated my first semester of a 4.0 GPA.
The habits that I'd formed, I found to be amplified by regularly exercising, which began that next semester. I started with 500m in the pool, and progressed to 2km in the pool/open water three times a week.
