Conversation Partner #1

On January 26^th, I emailed by conversation partner, Chia-Chi, using language that I would text or email a friend with, without thinking she may not be able to understand my language. From the email I received from the English program, I learned Chia-Chi was in beginner’s English and she is from Taiwan. When she replied, she used extremely basic English, but the content was completely clear. Today, we met at the TCU bookstore, where she brought her sister, who is in the intermediate English intensive program.  When we were talking, there were certain subjects and words they understand very well and other’s that they had no idea what I was saying. I found it was really hard to breakdown my sentences into simpler language, which I thought was going to be easy.  I asked them about American food and their classes, but an extensive language barrier, we had a really nice time. Tracy, Chia-Chi’s American name, and her sister began to open up and tell me a little bit about their culture, as well as about what their 3 weeks here have been like. I learned both of them are in their 40s, but I wouldn’t have guessed a year over 25 for either of them.  The said they really love the Big Bang Theory, but it took me a few minutes to figure out what their were saying, because they sounded like they were saying, “Big Bing!”  Meeting with these women who are so new to America, but were able to communicate very well was really refreshing. Our meeting definitely wasn’t like what I had expected, but it was really rewarding to teach them a pronunciation of a word and then use it later in a sentence.  It’s interesting to hear a point of view about America from people who haven’t grown up here.  I look forward to hearing about their American journey has the semester goes on.  Also, we plan to meet again in 2 weeks.

Learning Experience #1

I find that the only time I truly learn is when I’m willing. When I’m uninterested in a course or develop a negative mindset towards a professor, I find it's more difficult to grasp the information as compared to classes or experiences that I genuinely enjoy.  Over Christmas break, I volunteered as a medical scribe for a local urgent care. I found that I was able to remember diagnosis and treatment plans better when I worked under a doctor who treated others and myself with respect, rather than a doctor who just went through the motions of a physical exam with a diagnosis will a very stoic mindset towards medicine.  Going into this semester, I know I have a tough course load, but I am more conscience that 3 of my 5 courses I am taking as requirements for my major, not classes that I genuinely enjoy. Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology is an aspect of my major that is necessary, but I know I don’t enjoy studying the microscopic level from previous classes. Organic Chemistry, both lab and lecture, will be extremely difficult classes to keep positive mindsets in, but I know the only way I will be successful in either is if I keep an optimistic and driven attitude in each.  Specifically for lab, many students enter 2^nd semester with a defeated mindset and a negative view due to the lack of direction throughout the semester.  Learning is a two-way street—what we put into it is directly proportional to what we get out of it.

What is laughter? What is humor?

Link to group partner's blog:

http://brimoreau.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-is-laughter-what-is-humor.html

Unrestrained Laughter #1

At the beginning of the semester, my RA baked chocolate chip cookies for our wing. One of my roommates, who is generally pretty conservative, was begging for me or one of our other 2 other roommates to go down the hall and get a cookie with her, so that she didn’t look like a “fatty” going by herself.  Since all three of us refused, she took matters into her own hands and dragged me by my ankles on our wooden floor (which made it easier to slide).  My other roommate held onto my hands in hopes of stopping this whole catastrophe from continuing.  At this point, my crazy roommate was dragging me from my ankles towards the door and my other roommate was holding onto my hands, pulling me away from the door. The roommate who really wanted to cookies somehow gained momentary super strength and able to pull the two of us all the way to the front door, which happens to be located very close to the lobby. At some point, my roommate at my hands and I lost grip, so I held onto a protruding wall corner from being dragged out in the hallway with lots of people around.  Meanwhile, the cookie crazy roommate was opening the front door to pull me out while we’re all screaming like girls do in bizarre moments such as these. To our horror, one of the other guy RAs in the building walked by and had a look of horror on his face, considering he saw a girl on the floor (me) being dragged by her roommate out into the hall while another girl (non-crazy roommate) sat leaning against the wall laughing/crying.  Unfortunately, he walked away before we could tell him this was all over cookies, but there is a 99.9% chance that would of not helped our argument of “we’re not crazy or weird.”  We all sat on the floor laughing for a while because the entire situation was so unexpected and bizarre. I now realize how important cookies are to my roommate and will no longer disobey her when it comes to her cookie needs.

What is literature? What is civilization? What will we be learning this semester in Lit & Civ II?

Here's three video responses from Terrul Ratcliff, Danielle Deffebach, and Elizabeth Johnson.

By: Brie Moreau, Alex Smith, and Christy Smith