Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Contemplating Wednesday

I made it through Cross Cultural training decently. I still don't really like that class very much. One of the instructors really bugs me. The whole atmosphere of the class kind of bugs me. Let's gain cultural compentancy! Whoo hoo! It just seems very fake. Not genuine at all.

I like genuine.

I tried to be genuine for a second. Addressed something that I think is a pretty complex issue, and personal today in class. Basically I wanted to see what they thought about HOW MUCH you should give up of your own culture to "do as the Romans do." It's very easy to read this question as coming from someone who expects to go and have everything catered to them American-style (which is obviously not the case for me) but I just genuinely think about HOW much you have to change. I think I probably made myself look pretty stupid, because of course people want to jump in right away and say things about how YOU went THERE so etc etc and of COURSE you'll be a bit uncomfortable AT FIRST blah blah. They didn't really get the full background and depth of my question.

Anyhow I'm not worried about it. Also I'm done with my discussion leading stint, so that is a relief.

More importantly, I've come to the bizarre conclusion that statistics is my favorite class right now. Where everything else involves lots of reading, thinking, etc, stats is just solving problems. You feel GOOD when you solve problems. I actually LOOK FORWARD to math class (partly because it's a shorter one but partly) because I want to learn how to do more things with z values and stuff. We're starting hypothesis testing and I'm EXCITED!! Math homework is like a break from all my other homework. My other homework could go on indefinitely, just study study study until you fall over, but math is discrete: "PROBLEMS 1, 3, 7, 9, 11a, 15, 19" That is all! And every step of the way you COMPLETE something and when your findings are aligned with the back of the book's findings, the world seems good.

Tomorrow is EXAM DAY.

I have to admit I'm still rather frightened. Of course I'll study tonight, not to mention tomorrow morning, and during lunch probably. Lit, I guess I will just end up being ok in, but history I just don't feel prepared for at all. I felt that way last semester for the history midterm too, but I think this time it's MOREso...

Hmm...

well, just gotta keep working I guess.

On the food subject, I guess things are going ok. I'm eating a ton. Sometimes it's hard to think up stuff to eat, cuz the dining hall doesn't always have good food. Today for breakfast I had a bagel with peanut butter and cream cheese and a little yogurt. The yogurt was really just to get me through until the bagel was done toasting because my roommates alarm clock went off at 5 this morning for some reason and I was SO hungry but had to go back to bed until 7 so by 7:30 I was starving to death. I might do that for lunch tomorrow or something...more bagels... It was soooo good. I haven't had that since FOREVER. I actually like cream cheese now too, so it was really heaven. Yum yum.

Thursday and then Friday. After 4 tomorrow everything will be a breeze. :D

4 comments:

BadMonkey said...

Cross cultural training just sounds... odd. As is usual in class too, the ones who talk the most understand the least (at least that's how it always used to seem to me).
You'll kick ass in your exams, you always worry and you're always fine!
Math problems only seem contained and discrete cos you haven't got to any really complicated ones yet! ANd hopefully you won't 'cos you like math all self-contained like that.
Oh yeah, and echoes of Holden again Tiger, I told you before you remind me of him haven't I? You know which bit I mean too...

Xavier said...

I didn't know you felt that way about math. But yeah, that's one of the great things about math. There are definite answers, and when you're able to do them, you feel like you're achieving something. As opposed to Creative Writing, where everyone sits in little groups and talk about how good each other's works are even though everyone knows it's all crap.

I saw Ya Tebja Ljublju with you. Unless it was a different movie. Is it the one where there's a guy who falls for another guy despite his relationship with another girl. I coulda sworn we saw that together at the Union, but I could always be wrong.

Have you been playing your DS lately? I'm hoping you're putting it to good use :) I'm really into Tales of Symphonia. It's sooo easy, which makes me feel good that I can figure out what I'm supposed to do.

I'm listening to Sondre Lerche "Three Way Monologues" right now on my I-pod Shuffle. They were giving away an X-Box 360 and I-pod Nano at the CAB party last night. Lily and I went and we played Pictionary with a group, and my team won! Hoooray!

I like winning...

I'm glad that you're eating well, and I'm glad that you're having fun in California. It's pretty warm outside. The temp says 40, but for some reason it feels warmer than that. Must be the humidity, or does humidity have an opposite effect? Well, to cut a long story short. I miss you so much! Hope things are fine. And Happy Belated Women's Day in Russia, and belated girl's day in Japan. Although I suppose you're not a girl anymore. Way to go you!

-Xaberz (you gave me that name, but I've been using it everywhere)

Xavier said...

cross cultural training. Reminds me of when I first arrived at EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow!) for training. We had to do all sorts of hands-on excercises. Like be grouped and blind-folded. Then have a way to communicate with your group that was unique. Like a certain hand position that you place in the other person's hand...Or you have to tap a person a certain way on the shoulder. Well then they jumbled us all up, and we had to find each other. And it was most awful, because I didn't want to grab a boob and get smacked. Molesting people on accident is bad. And then people would do really weird things to you. Oh yeah, and you can't talk. so how do you respond when someone grabs your hand and strokes the backside of your hand? Uh grab your hand away and shake your head in spite the fact that they can't see you and walk away...And once you find your fellow member you hold hands with them until you have everyone. And it's hard to know if you have everyone, so you have to figure that out, and you all form a circle, and hopefully you didn't trap a stray member in there...

BadMonkey said...

I'd just like to point out that you only think there are definite answers in math because you don't know enough of it, and certainly not the scary stuff! ;p