1. Meera’s Map

2. Meera Both parents were born and raised in India Passion for reading books/learning about the Holocaust Biology major  loves physiology & immunology Passion for service and volunteer-work Passion for traveling Interested in yoga and mindfulness High education Have always lived in Southern California Hindu Passionate about a career in healthcare

3. Conclusions I am extremely passionate about a career in healthcare because of the extensive volunteer-work I’ve done at many hospitals Being raised in San Diego and attending college in Orange County, I’ve come to accept the norms of Southern California life: love the beach, enjoy “chilling”, concerned with physical appearances, etc. By nature I am extremely anxious and have come to find that activities like yoga and learning about mindfulness can aid me in obtaining a more calm mindset My parents have always pushed me (perhaps because of their own cultural beliefs) that education, specifically higher education, is very important to gaining success Volunteering with visually impaired children and the elderly has allowed me to find my love for interacting with people, hearing others’ stories, and learning from others

4. Conclusions My family and I have been traveling to other countries since I was in 2 nd grade and a couple summers ago I went on the Semester at Sea program and that experience made me really fall in love with traveling Being that both my parents were born and raised in India, there are a lot of cultural clashes I have experienced while growing up in America During high school, I was assigned to read the book Night and ever since then I am addicted to reading books about the Holocaust My parents are Hindu and have only slightly pushed my sister and I to be Hindu but I’ve never learned much about it or any other religions for that matter –basically, religion is a source of confusion for me One of my best experiences in college has been finding my love for biology –something I can share with my sister as she also loves biology

5. Themes After reviewing the most important impacts on my life, I found that interacting with people (through volunteering and traveling) is one of the major themes in my life. It is through the service of others and meeting people of diverse cultural backgrounds that I have been able to discover who I am. I think that the cultural clashes I’ve experienced throughout my life have led me to become a blend of two cultures that can be at odds with each other at times