How's the Weather? (Conversation 4/6)

Conversation #4:

                       

Since I’ve been a little bit behind in the blog posting, I have yet another update on the whole conversation partner situation.  As a reminder, my conversation partner is Fernande. A 20-something year old (I believe 21… I should probably know this by now) from the Democratic Republic of Congo. For my own curiosity – since, I’ll be honest, I know virtually nothing about Geography – I Googled where Congo is located, so I knew something a little bit more specific then “Africa.”

A high-school teacher of mine had once told me that you know someone’s from the Midwest if they like to talk about the weather. Being form California, she said she rarely ever thought much of the weather until she moved to Nebraska. Well, being that I am from the Midwest, from a magical land called Omaha, Nebraska, more specifically, I have to say I agree with that statement. I do quite enjoy talking about the weather. To be fair though, I am from the land of changing weather. A quality that has recently come to describe Texas. I am currently wearing a tank top while basking in the pleasantry of air conditioning. Less than a week ago, however, I was cursing the bitterness of the cold as I was wrapped in a fleece blanket cranking up the thermostat. But anyways, I’m slightly off topic now. The point was that I asked Fernande what he thought of this recent cold front, and he described to me about how Congo had fairly one-note temperatures. Temperatures for the most part ranged from lower 60s to upper 80s, your typical paradise. In other words, Fernande was having a much harder time than I was adjusting to this sudden freeze. It’s slightly embarrassing to admit, but honestly…we then talked about weather for about 20 minutes. You might be wondering how someone could possibly talk about something as dry as the weather for that long…but leave it to us Midwesterners to get the job done. And if I find a conversation topic that successfully leads to conversing as oppose to an interview type setting, I roll with it. He then continued to show me pictures on his phone of Congo and then his recent girlfriend, a junior at TCU. And that concludes the most recent escapades of my conversation partner experience.

Kwaheri

(P.S: I felt cultural when writing this, so I said Goodbye in Swahili)

A Little More Information (Conversation 3/6)

Conversation #3:

- This time around, it had been a couple of weeks since our last communication. One could detect a clear difference in this conversation, however, from the last two attempts. For starters, we could both actually somewhat decipher what the other person was saying. That was a plus. Secondly, we had already asked the previous basic questions that characterize the first encounter at college. “Hi, what’s your name? What’s your major? Where are you from?”…and the likes: the types of questions that every freshman has pretty much memorized to heart. Well, that was over. The simple part. Now I had to actually think of question that entail more than one word answer. The harder part. I won’t pretend like there weren’t moments of awkward silence that lasted more than ten seconds. Because there were. A lot. But I think this conversation actually managed to acquire somewhat greater knowledge of the person. So what did I learn about Fernande this time around? Well for starters, there is not such thing as trick-or-treating in Congo. Halloween does exist there though, fortunately. Halloween pretty much only consists of adult parties with alcohol and masks, not so much a holiday for children. Thanksgiving, as I expected, does not exist there. For his “First Thanksgiving” he said he has no interest in the traditional meal. As I believe I mentioned previously, Fernande is not a fan of American food. He determined that the idea of turkey and gravy sounds less than appetizing. But to each his own. A fun coincidence in terms of holidays (because once I found a topic we could both talk about I kind of just rolled with it), is that we both like New Year’s Eve the best. New Year’s eve is the type of holiday celebrated everywhere but without the religious undertone of Christmas that can always lead to some awkward conversations. And unlike Christmas New Year’s is about spending time with your closest friends as oppose to distant relatives who seem to forget whose kid you are each time. I also found out that Fernande is interested in buying his own house. For the past couple of months Fernande has been staying at his aunt and uncle’s house in Arlington, but recently he’s been saving up enough money to afford his own apartment for himself in town. After he finished his program he intends to attend classes at TCC for two years, and then finish his bachelor’s degree at University of Texas in Dallas. With regard to when he plans to return home to Congo, Frenande responded that he has no immediate plans. He says he doesn’t believe it is worth the money to return home at all this year.  That statement pretty much concluded out third conversation.

What I have learned #3

What I’ve Learned #3

Well, I’ve now reached a point in the year where the end couldn’t be soon enough. Social lives have started to dwindle to a minimum. In the meantime, classes have stockpiled their final material and exams all for the very end. I can’t claim that this has taught me anything new, however. Everyone is familiar with the idea of finals week and the excessive studying that it entails. So, leading up to finals week what have I learned?

Linear Algebra: I’ve learned in Linear algebra all about eigenvalues. But enough about that.

Developmental Biology: Cyclops exist, it’s a true thing. And Cyclops babies are quite possibly the scariest thing I’ve every seen. I feel bad calling a baby ugly, but let’s be honest, take a look:

You may be wondering why I am sharing this disturbing image, but I find all the ugliness interesting. Think of all the many ways we could have been mutated in birth. So after seeing this, I feel quite grateful for my symmetrical face. And the presence of two eyeballs.

Literature and Civilization II: The shocking update that I discovered is that Nora Jones wrote a large majority of the movies I like. Most people apparently already recognized the connection between Norah Jones and Meg Ryan films, but that was a new discovery for me. The best being When Harry Met Sally, but Norah Jones was pretty much the original Nicholas Sparks, minus half the corniness (and that says something). Another thing I learned is that Kurt Vonnegut seemed like a really unhappy person. I think someone needed to give that man a hug more often. Especially his dad, I’m sensing daddy issues.

English Composition: This class for me recently has entailed analyzing hidden agendas of movies. So recently this has been focused on Disney classic cartoons. When it comes to Disney princess movies, the originals don’t honestly have too much to offer in terms of moral values. Fortunately, as the modern times demanded a stronger female protagonist, the hidden agenda changed. From movies such as Snow White (Some day you’ll marry a prince, since that’s all that matters) and Little Mermaid (Do whatever you want no matter the cost) to the more recent Mulan (protect your family) and Princess and the Frog (Work hard for your dreams).

Genetics: Basically this class has led me to the conclusion that virtually everything about you is somewhat controlled by your genes. Meaning that even a large chunk of your personality was determined before you were born. Example:  whether or not you enjoy positive humor, whether or not you’re an aggressive person, whether or not you can sing…pretty much is all associated with some genetic factor. Somewhat of a downer in the end because it basically is saying that some things you were genetically gifted and some you were honestly born to be terrible at or not enjoy.

Well that pretty much summarized a large majority of my recent educational experiences. I could describe in detail each protein, page number, and equation I’ve recently read and/or memorized, but I feel like that would be necessary. In the meantime, additional fun facts I have recently discovered:

#1: The deliciousness of bubble tea. Popping those little jelly-spheres

(“bubbles”) is simple pleasure at its finest.

#2: Watching a movie inside the back of a car at a Drive-In is far superior to velvet movie cushions with plastic cup holders.

#3: How to make a snowflake (as in I just recently learned how to make a snowflake, and I’m pretty boss at it now…just saying)

#4: An orphan by the name of Sally in China is going to be receiving a Christmas card I made in about 3 weeks

Differences Beyond Dialect (Conversation 2/6)

- A continuation on the topic of my conversation partner from Congo. I mentioned in the previous blogpost that there was certainly a dialect barrier between Fernand and I. The two of us, though both attempting to speak proper English, certainly had the trouble of understanding each other due the different accents and pronunciation of words. This more recent conversation had the anticipation of more productivity. I knew to speak slower, at least, and he seemed to annunciate better. Well as the conversation continued on, slowly but surely, other barriers became apparent. There’s a little thing called a cultural barrier. For example, Question: what was Ferdinand’s favorite food in America? Answer: Nothing, it’s all pretty disgusting. Question: what was his favorite movie/TV show? Answer:  None, he’s never really watched a movie or TV show. This is not to say I am criticizing or judging. Everyone certainly has a right to like what he or she wants. Either way, I find it hard to picture someone with these opinions because in reality a lot of this is what makes up Americans. Quoting Will Ferrell movies while gorging over McDonald’s Fries at some time in the a.m. is certainly a tradition of my friends and I. That’s when I realized that “foreign” means more than a dialect. It’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the conversation, it was certainly interesting. As another point that shocked me, he hates football. Growing up in Nebraska, I was born a Husker Football fan, went to TCU and then became a Horned Frog Football fan. I loved football. That was the best way to sum everything up. Not liking football? Um…What? He said he’s seen one football game, a TCU game, but he found it confusing and boring…so he left early. In his country, soccer is the big social phenomenon. No Superbowl, but soccer. When I watch a soccer game, there’s nothing special about it to me, not the same type of excitement but simple a bunch of men chasing a ball. However, when I visited Europe the summer before my senior year in high school, it was the same time as the World Cup. The excitement the Swiss felt, screaming in the streets, covered in paint, the same type of phenomenon a student feels at a college football game. So we may not agree on Will Ferrell, TV shows watched the next morning on Hulu, and the greasy hamburgers and fries devoured on a Friday Night, we agree on loving the sports we grew up with. And that’s ok with me.

What I've Learned (Weeks 5-8)

What I’ve learned #2:

After the introduction of Classes, tests began piling up these four weeks. One important thing I’ve learned is to regularly look at syllabus for classes. It seems like a given, but as a warning, keep these things in mind, and always plan your weeks ahead of time. So…what have I learned since this last post that I wrote about this. I feel school occurs similar to a plateau. The beginning of school occurs with refreshing knowledge of how to yet again live away from home, how to live off campus, and what each class plans to teach the students and how the professor plans to accomplish his/her goal. The beginning of the year always brings excitement as to anticipating the unexpected. At this point in the semester, we have reached the half point in the semester. Essays written, tests graded, football games won and lost…no longer unexpected, everything from this point on could be anticipated. So, form this point I have come to several conclusions.

Allison’s ½ point conclusions:

1) Microwavable dinners are a gift from God. The adventure of cooking for oneself grows old…it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. 

2) English is a subjective subject. Best to try your best and give little room for nitpicking.

3)All science classes relate to each other. The advantage: information gets repeated which helps you remember

4) A lessen I learned from my Linear Algebra Professor, that I belief you can apply to all subjects: Mistakes allow for criticism which gives your future into someone else’s hands; be perfect and control your work. Something along those lines. Probably super corny. It sounded much better in his Japanese accent, but either way I think it’s a slightly nice thing to consider when completing an essay or doing a test.

5) The exact order in which lights turn from red to green that allows one to cross from the seven eleven to the Barnes and Noble

6)  How to convert a hyperlink into Quicktime movie

Now that I am halfway to finals, half way to transcript updates, and halfway to another end, I’ve learned about movies, the penalty of improper word choice, eigenvalues, polytene chromosomes, how to properly pipette serum into cells, and the dimension of a strand of DNA. 

Dialect Barrier (Conversation 1/6)

English is English. French is French. 

Recently I met my Foreign exchange conversation partner, from a little country known as The Democratic Republic of Congo (or Congo for short). His name is Fernand. One of the first realization I encountered while meeting Fernand was that communication was going to be much harder than I had realized. I was told that our conversation partners were pretty skilled in their English, and that these conversations were more about teaching the students about American culture and our version of the English language from the perspective of a young, cultural college student. Sounds easy enough. Well, English is English right? Not so much. There are two little things called dialect and accents. Fernand, a recent English speaker form Congo, presented a tough challenge. About every other word I struggled to understand entirely. Sentences soon lost me and the challenge continued. If that didn't muddle up the conversation any further insert my dialect into the conversation. The difficulty in understanding me occurs not with my accent but with my rate. Elderly individuals and anyone who is not a pro-English native have difficulty understanding my rather fast words. So here we are, two 20-something year olds struggling to have a basic conversation with topics including favorite food, the weather, and other simple topics that actually made it across and easier to interpret. And then when English seemed rather dull, here comes the French. When Fernand discussed how he knows English (somewhat), French, and Swahili, I made the poor decision of mentioning that I somewhat knew French from studying it for 8 years. The part I did not mention however is the fact that I have not used my French skills in over two years. To put it kindly, what was about to follow was pretty rough. Since we had a difficult time corresponding back and forth in English, Fernand thought that it would be so much easier to converse if  we decided to converse in French. After all, French is French, right? Yet again, very much NO. After it took me a solid 15 seconds to remember how to say "what would you like me to say to you in French?" in French, we both agreed that the French was a bad idea. Once the conversing between the two of us became a little more doable the discussions led me to this information: American food is gross (according to Fernand), Texas is very hot (in comparison to Congo), people here walk very fast (again, according to Fernand), and finally the people of Congo have strong family connections. The next conversation, now that we've already met, will hopefully be able to begin on a stronger note then this one. Now that we've both been able to rasp the other person's dialect a little better, there is only room for improvement.

Comics

For a class project, my friend Rachel and I came up with three comic strips (and when I say 'came up with' I really mean 'googled'). Each of these comic strips for the most part finds a way to utilize exaggeration as a means to create humor as well as incorporating other humorous techniques.

The First Comic Strip:
Non Sequitur



The Second Comic Strip:
Calvin and Hobbes



The Third Comic Strip:
Foxtrot