well, i won't deny that i should be studying now. shouldn't we always be doing something different? sometimes it's better just to have some time to oneself...to think...
a lot of friends and family have been bugging me to continue in my journal here. in all honesty, sometimes it takes so much out of me. but as i type, it seems so nice, just to be able to get my thoughts down on paper. i'm learning a lot, but not just about japanese and east asian studies for once. for the first time in my life, my education is encompassing more than simply reading books. i think schooling in the states has forced me to forget that education should be more well-rounded than what american institutions often provide.
yes, i've learnt a lot in the past few months. i can rattle off lots of interesting facts about christianity and judaism, about african and japanese religions, about the japanese language and its geography. but i can also tell you how to get from my dorm to the largest airport in the world in 68 minutes. i can tell you where to see the tomb of bloody mary, and the significance of the scottish crown jewels. i've learnt all about sir thomas beckett and the conflict between catholicism and protestantism in this country. and the effects it's had on the royal party as well as the people. more importantly, i have been there. i have seen where beckett was martyred, i've seen the scottish crown jewels. i've seen bloody mary's tomb and i've seen stirling castle, the castle King James II retreated to after becoming the first scottish king of the united kingdom (catholicism? scotland's a catholic country). isn't that what education should be about?
before i left home, many americans told me to watch out for the british, that i would find them to be rude and surly towards americans. and towards people in general.
i still don't know why people have told me this? in my two months here, i have encountered maybe a half-dozen rude british. i've also encountered just as many rude americans in that time. are others' attitudes reflections of ourselves? i'm finding the english to be friendly and open. not that i am, but i am open to meeting british people. heck, that's why i came here. i just don't understand how the perception of so many americans regarding the british could be so poor. unless they're just too critical to accept another culture. i'm attached to the english now, and i know that they'll forever be a part of me. but in the same sense, i was born and raised in america, and it's where i'll end up. i laugh at the americans; my friends laugh at the british. we discuss our differences and admire our similarities. otherwise how would you learn that he-man and she-ra were popular in england in the 80s? (yes, i'm an 80s child!) so what if we have different accents, so what if the british are more abrupt and blunt than americans? it's simply reflective of a different culture, and isn't that what i came to this country to study (no need for any professors to answer that!)? i used to want to be an anthropology major, but being a jya is ten-times better than studying anthropology in any classroom, except maybe a british one! |
