Catch-up and some Tangents: Part 1

I feel like a lot of my blog posts include a tangent. So this will be a large series of short tangents, because nothing to major has happened in my life. If you don't feel like reading this I can totally understand, because it will probably be boring. I personally enjoy hearing people's random stories, so whatever you feel So, since I last posted a lot of stuff has happened. We had our pledge mom night, where we get a mom in the junior pledge class. My "mom" is engaged. It is crazy to think she is getting married in a few months. I had a calculus II test and a chemistry test. On Wednesday (19th), I got really sick. I had been kind of sick a few days before that. I got bronchitis that has finally almost gone away. So, last weekend was homecoming and that was fun. On Friday, I went and saw Footloose, which I didn't think was going to live up to the first one, but oh it did. It was adorable. I am still so sad that I didn't go to the Luke Bryan concert, because I love Luke Bryan. The homecoming game was a great game and we beat Illinois. I rested a lot last weekend to try and get over being sick.

Interview

so I just got back from conducting my interview. I was actually surprised at how well it went. I am generally a shy person who doesnt do well in awkward social situations. But the interview went pretty well. I stepped into the professor's office and suddenly felt comfortable about what I was doing. The professor I interviewed was a nice guy and very helpful. He had tons of information for me and even took me to one of his labs to give me a demonstration of something! I think the reason it went over so well, is because we both shared a common interest in the topic. It was easy for us to relate and understand each other. He provided me with the necessary information I was looking for to write this interview essay, as well as information that could have a possible effect on my career path...

Global Interpretation

These three case examples provide a very good example of how different situations can be interpreted differently. Each sample does provide an example of this, but the example that stood out the most out in my mind was the first case. The story was funny and anecdotal and I think this my I enjoyed the first one the most. It is very important to understand what you are heading into before it happens. Both parties were correct, but problems occurred through communication. Also, what I though was interesting was the fact that the French language is so popular in Tunisia. Every country interprets things differently. In the first case, it was a simple misspeaking interpretation. The second sample takes an approach at thinking differently. Finally, the last case is about the representation of an image in society and how it invoked social image. Images can change over time. The example given in the article is that of an axe. Originally, it was used and depicted strength, but as time went on roles changes and the depiction of strength. The axe moved from a symbol of strength to just another item in the everyday world. If one goes to other countries, different words, items, and habits all can have different connotations.

Just Thinking

It's been a really long time since I don't make a blog post for English. Well here I am. Last week was AWESOME, I really enjoyed it because we didn't have any engr 131 homework, so that means more time spent in other subjects, or just free time, I didn't have any chemistry pre-lab either, so that meant even more time! In engr 103 we had a great speaker who talked about civil engineering (my desired major of study) and we also had a few sunny days, basically it was a beautiful week despite the exams I had, and the horizontal rain.

Mmm what else? OOHH I didn't have to go too late to bed, which is incredible! My friday was weird tho. I had been waiting long in order to celebrate a friend's birthday, and when finally my friday arrived, I was completely unaware that two friends of mine had their birthdays on the same date, so I felt a little sad about that but still I enjoyed it.

I really hope next week is as good as this one, and that it doesn't rain horizontally...

Noticing Diversity and Different Ideas

After reading 'Diversity Consciousness- Chapter 3' I fell into account that sometimes we ignore how may people feel about something because we are not used to that stereotype or image. For example in the case of UNC the statues had a subliminal message to some people because of the pictured stereotypes. However, I think that if I pass by, I will not feel alluded because I am not the one pictured.

In Colombia, my native country, we are used to stereotypes, and people have several social barriers. When I told my friends and family that I planned to study abroad, many of them thought I would never be able to do it because I was going to compete admission against the most talented people around the world. Some others thought that americans were dumb people and their universities were dumb as well. These kind of stereotypes were barriers when applying abroad; however, I never allowed them to stop me.

Despite the arrive of the 21st century we are still immersed in stereotypic societies, who influence our thoughts and perceptions of the world. The physical consequences of external influences were proved in an astonishing experiment carried out by Mrs. Elliott, a school teacher in Iowa. She proved that the brown-eyed kids in her class felt really inferior compared to blue-eyed ones, when told so, and thus their grades dropped; however when they were told to be superior than blue-eyed kids, they improved their academic performance.

This article was really interesting because it gave several examples and cases of study of different situations and perceptions. Moreover, it really helps us open our minds to different thoughts and cultures, so that we can notice that many times our environment really affects the way we see the world around us.

How Aware Are You of Diversity?

This article has been one of the ones that I have liked the most so far. I am very interested, specifically in the situation with the statues. When I was first reading through it, the beginning I thought was some form of analogy, but then when it was not an analogy I was really shocked. What I was surprised about was that enough people approved the statue that the senior class chose as a gift that it was created into a statue on campus. It seems that there is so much evaluation of everything for racism and stereotypes you would not think this would go so far on a such a large, diverse campus. Campus life is usually more liberal and filled with activists so that is also surprising. Everything is scrutinized today. Take for example the Illinois Illini (very suiting for this weekends game). For year the Chief of the Illiniwek was the mascot and danced before their games began and was featured on Illinois gear. This mascot had been place for many years. Illinois was aware of how treating the situation properly was important. From my view and the view of many others, never was the mascot show in disrespectful light or derogatory ways. He was treated with respect and pride. The potential scrutiny of the Illiniwek was assumed and Illinois was forced to remove as the mascot and the chief danced no more. Stereotypes are a very touchy subject, and it is often hard to know when the line has been crossed.

Round 2, FIGHT!

So about this time of year, most of us have or are getting ready to take on our second round of exams. I just had my math exam the other night and am preparing for my chem one next week. Ugh. Math went alright i think, i will get the results later this evening. Chemistry is going to be awful tho. I completely suck at chem. Since day one, I haven't really had a clue to what is going on in there. I have to know lattice energy, VSEPR (I'm not even sure if that's the right acronym), and hybridization. There is tons more that I don't really know either. I can't wait for this semester to be over because this is the only chemistry course I have to take :) Also I have to meet with my ENGR131 team tonight to work on the library project as well as our MEA. Then, I have to finish my paper for english. This weekend is going to be busy... not the good busy though...