Immersion with things beyond your comprehension makes you realize how much of the world you still need to know.
My English in Society and Culture subject taught me how language is such a complex matter, and how it functions in the society. Now, I have new terms added to my memory dictionary: decreolization, received pronunciation and inherent variety among the many others. Global Issues class exposed me to the serious problems of the world: from obesity down to malnutrition, city planning to overpopulation, free trade to fair trade, land mines to child labor, and efficient energy consumption to diminishing natural resources, just to name a few. Globalization classes taught me about creative cities and how they were formed and how the employment conditions in some countries change over the years. Literature classes taught me to read books and classics, which I did not normally do. And of course, Nihongo classes taught me a whole new set of writing, vocabulary and grammar to use.
I know it doesn’t have a lot of Science in to it, which I was very used to, but I am enjoying this broadening-my-horizon-of-learning thing. Well, yes, I miss my Biology classes back home. I miss the cats, the frogs and the fishes I open up almost everyday. I miss my professors’ explanations on things like how a jellyfish moves or why dolphins are shaped as they are or why the cacti appear to have no leaves when they actually have. And I miss wearing lab gown, too. But having to take these “deviation from my norm” classes made me feel I have been too focused and devoted to being a doctor and disregarded the other things that matter too. Way back, I never found myself reading history books again or even just the newspaper. I never read other books aside from those Biology ones, what more of those literary greats. So now, when I am asked about how the labor demand is in the Philippines, or why was India separated from Pakistan and Bangladesh after the war, or even a simple question of whether I have read a Samuel Richardson before, I don’t have answers. And yes, it’s hard and embarrassing. But I like the fact that I’m learning new and relevant things, and that I’m starting from scratch. It makes me want to know more.
I know I am left behind, stocked knowledge wise, but I like it that now, I not only know that Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice but Elizabeth fell in love with Mr. Darcy after all; that not only is London the capital of UK but is also a “global financial articulation”, together with New York and Tokyo as well, and that せいぶつがく (seibutsugaku) actually meant Biology in Nihongo.
My English in Society and Culture subject taught me how language is such a complex matter, and how it functions in the society. Now, I have new terms added to my memory dictionary: decreolization, received pronunciation and inherent variety among the many others. Global Issues class exposed me to the serious problems of the world: from obesity down to malnutrition, city planning to overpopulation, free trade to fair trade, land mines to child labor, and efficient energy consumption to diminishing natural resources, just to name a few. Globalization classes taught me about creative cities and how they were formed and how the employment conditions in some countries change over the years. Literature classes taught me to read books and classics, which I did not normally do. And of course, Nihongo classes taught me a whole new set of writing, vocabulary and grammar to use.
I know it doesn’t have a lot of Science in to it, which I was very used to, but I am enjoying this broadening-my-horizon-of-learning thing. Well, yes, I miss my Biology classes back home. I miss the cats, the frogs and the fishes I open up almost everyday. I miss my professors’ explanations on things like how a jellyfish moves or why dolphins are shaped as they are or why the cacti appear to have no leaves when they actually have. And I miss wearing lab gown, too. But having to take these “deviation from my norm” classes made me feel I have been too focused and devoted to being a doctor and disregarded the other things that matter too. Way back, I never found myself reading history books again or even just the newspaper. I never read other books aside from those Biology ones, what more of those literary greats. So now, when I am asked about how the labor demand is in the Philippines, or why was India separated from Pakistan and Bangladesh after the war, or even a simple question of whether I have read a Samuel Richardson before, I don’t have answers. And yes, it’s hard and embarrassing. But I like the fact that I’m learning new and relevant things, and that I’m starting from scratch. It makes me want to know more.
I know I am left behind, stocked knowledge wise, but I like it that now, I not only know that Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice but Elizabeth fell in love with Mr. Darcy after all; that not only is London the capital of UK but is also a “global financial articulation”, together with New York and Tokyo as well, and that せいぶつがく (seibutsugaku) actually meant Biology in Nihongo.
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