To Build a Brick Wall: My First Six Months at MIT as an International Student – Hiro Ono's Odyssey: "In retrospect, what filled me up in my first days at MIT was not a real confidence, but merely an extrapolation of the limited success in a small community. It was like the gas in a balloon, which can inflate a small rubber membrane, but goes away quickly once the balloon is punctured.
Real confidence is like a brick wall. Gaining confidence really means building up your accomplishments, trust from colleagues, and friendship with someone who really understands you through patient and tenacious effort, as if piling up bricks one by one to build a wall that will never give in to rain or wind.
If I were to achieve some success in my life, the wall would be the foundation of the success. If I were to fail, the wall would protect me from storms. Looking back, I honestly think losing all the confidence was the best experience I had at MIT."
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