Integration Paper

	What am I made for? What am I made of? Archimedes’ questions are one that I have been thinking about since coming here. I wrote about not knowing what I want to be from week one, and in all honesty, it feels as if I just wrote that first QQC a week ago (Week 1). Every time I walk the paths at Notre Dame, always walking somewhere, always leaving something behind, I ponder these questions. The question “what am I made of?” makes me think of the paths I’ve walked to get here. Like what I wrote in the poem, I think of my hometown, and the people who helped me get to where I am (Week 6). As you wrote in some of your comments, what makes me me, is the intersection of all of the people I’ve met in my life. I honestly did always think of this fact about myself as a negative component. I thought that for me to truly be myself, I had to do everything completely alone with no help or influence from others. Whenever I would find myself mimicking/resembling something that someone else had already done I got mad at myself because I did not believe it was truly my own. This fear was put into a technical term in Week 9 when we learned about imposter syndrome from the video (Week 9). It was comforting to know that it was not just me who thinks in this way, and the comment on the QQc that week put into perspective how as long as I stay true to who I am, it is not necessarily a bad thing, collecting different parts of my personality from others (Sandberg, Week 9). Over these past couple of months I’ve realized that there are so many people in the world, that while everyone is completely unique, we are all extremely similar in many ways. After this epiphany I no longer feel as bad when I find myself resembling someone else because in reality, I still make it my own. This does not mean that I seek to only follow others, as I previously thought, it is me realizing that others have a better grasp of life than me, and taking notes from them improves my own individuality too, as long as I put my own spin on it.
	One other thing that makes me unique, which I have recently discovered about myself, is somewhat hard to describe. I believe myself to be an introvert turned extrovert, and still have a heavy mix of both qualities, which heavily impact my daily life which was furthered by the survey results from Week 2. Many of my results were mixed proving I have many different sides to my personality(Week 2).  I value alone time very much. At home there were always lulls when there’d be nothing going on and I would be able to just relax, now that I am fully in charge of my own day, I always make sure to weave in time when I can be by myself for a while each day. This gives me time to reflect on what I want to do, but another thing is that I tend to never stop thinking. When I am by myself the extrovert in me is oftentimes suffering from fear of missing out, yet I want the alone time as well. Luckily being a mix of both types of personalities does have some benefits, I find I am able to adapt to both kinds of people in many situations that I would not really be able to do if I were solely one or the other. Basically I’ve learned that one of the unique qualities about myself is that I am adaptable to most kinds of people and situations, however because I am both I am also always slightly on edge in certain situations as well. The pros of this fact I believe outweigh that one con.
	One more thing that I’ve realized about myself, is that I truly do love to serve. I’ve done multiple clubs and activities. I tried out a large amount of them at the beginning and ended up sticking with a choice few. Three things kept me coming back to them. Of course I have to semi enjoy the activity the club does, however this ended up being the least important aspect. Second was the people that were in the club, as I’ve come to appreciate how much I enjoy spending time with the ones I am close with. The third thing, which is a somewhat new discovery of myself, is that I felt most alive when I felt as if I was making a difference in someone else’s life. This is something that I always knew was a part of my life, but I only recently discovered is what I was made for. I am made to use my life to make the lives around me better, in any way I can. 
	I am at my purest core, a man made for others. Through my engineering class I believe I have found at least a career path that could be something I was made for. One that makes infrastructure that will make others lives better and more convenient. But this school, even only one semester, has taught me I am made for so much more than just a career. I am made to enjoy the little moments, small things that make others’ days just a little bit better. I am made to spend as much time with my friends as possible, and to continually expand my idea of who I am friends with. Each day proves to me that I am on the right path. The people I am surrounded with here only strengthen my drive to serve others. I’ve learned about my fascination with the beauty of humans in general, and the intricate relationships between everything and everyone. And lastly I know I am made to live in a way which pleases god.