More Orientation
The days are really dragging with the back-to-back-to-back-to... on to infinity of presentations about things I feel I was already pretty well versed about. But there are a few points that stuck out to me and are worth mentioning or at least had me pondering.
Working backwards from the end of the day, early this evening I had my first one-on-one meeting with the head of my advisory college. Pretty damn cool dude who I had a really good conversation with (flowing way over into someone else's time slot even though we'd actually started early). He was really encouraging about my background and where I was coming from, not to mention a lot of my pet issues and finding ways to "get involved" or generally find something fulfilling that is not school-related. I think it was after he asked about whether or not I had residency status that we started discussing my scholarship and he said something along the lines of being glad that they were able to win me over to come here with it and that I guess he is the one who "signs it" for those particular scholarships. The more I learn, the more I realize it was and is a pretty big deal that I got it.
I have also taken note of a few more things I am taking to be "distinctly Texas," but at bare minimum very far from the way things are in Massachusetts:
1. There is a basic assumption that everyone is Christian.
Granted, I might be a little extra-sensitive to this given my own distaste for (maybe even disgust) with organized religion and Christianity in particular. However, there are a number of international students in my class and even more who, while they grew up in the US, are clearly of another religion (e.g., Muslim women wearing various iterations of head coverings and traditional dress). As examples, the guy who is apparently our ethics professor holds some type of religious title and a degree in divinity and wove a bunch of biblical stuff into his talk today. The Dean of Academic Affairs (or something like that) told everyone to sit on the edge of their seat and then stand up and say "Hallelujah." He actually didn't seem to get why not everyone was participating.
2. Respectfulness and recognition of power dynamics are so not on the agenda
Back to the Ethics prof's talk, I found myself really infuriated with how he was talking about people considering international rotations. I got a very us vs. them vibe... like we must go save these people who can't seem to make it like us (no recognition of the histories of oppression). He also referred to "Third World Countries," a phrasing that would get one heavily criticized in Boston. I find myself watching people closely when I'm talking to them and choosing my words carefully b/c I'm not sure I'll be understood. In a way, it's like I'm talking around the word I want to use. Kind of like what I do when I'm trying to say something in Spanish and don't know the precise word I want so I just end up describing it instead. Works for Texans too, I guess.
3. I have identified why there is a obesity EPIDEMIC here.
The shit these people eat is beyond terrible. I'm freaking out in a way b/c yesterday the President of the Health Science Center was basically lecturing us about taking care of ourselves and eating well even though that's sometimes hard to do when under stress and with limited time to make good meals. Well, wouldn't you know that only about half an hour later we go outside where they have snacks for us which consists of a few tables literally fully of candy bars and chips. Breakfast has yet to include anything beyond muffins, scones, and cinnamon rolls so I'm making sure to wake up early enough to eat my own at home. Typically I put skim milk in my coffee, they only provide half and half so my digestive tract is tumbling over that one. All in all, I've gotten much less excited about the prospect of free food around this place b/c pretty much all of it seems guaranteed to make me fat, esp now that I'll be leading a much more sedentary lifestyle than I was.
I continue to feel stressed financially. Every day there seems to be one more obligation that I hadn't planned for even though I did A LOT of very careful planning and budgeting. I keep describing it as "bleeding money." I don't know at what point this becomes normal, if it ever will for me. Everything and everyone keeps telling me to just make it through the first semester, so I'm trying to work in little bites at this point, but ignoring the big picture enough to really do that is beyond difficult.
Many spanks,
BBC ;)
Working backwards from the end of the day, early this evening I had my first one-on-one meeting with the head of my advisory college. Pretty damn cool dude who I had a really good conversation with (flowing way over into someone else's time slot even though we'd actually started early). He was really encouraging about my background and where I was coming from, not to mention a lot of my pet issues and finding ways to "get involved" or generally find something fulfilling that is not school-related. I think it was after he asked about whether or not I had residency status that we started discussing my scholarship and he said something along the lines of being glad that they were able to win me over to come here with it and that I guess he is the one who "signs it" for those particular scholarships. The more I learn, the more I realize it was and is a pretty big deal that I got it.
I have also taken note of a few more things I am taking to be "distinctly Texas," but at bare minimum very far from the way things are in Massachusetts:
1. There is a basic assumption that everyone is Christian.
Granted, I might be a little extra-sensitive to this given my own distaste for (maybe even disgust) with organized religion and Christianity in particular. However, there are a number of international students in my class and even more who, while they grew up in the US, are clearly of another religion (e.g., Muslim women wearing various iterations of head coverings and traditional dress). As examples, the guy who is apparently our ethics professor holds some type of religious title and a degree in divinity and wove a bunch of biblical stuff into his talk today. The Dean of Academic Affairs (or something like that) told everyone to sit on the edge of their seat and then stand up and say "Hallelujah." He actually didn't seem to get why not everyone was participating.
2. Respectfulness and recognition of power dynamics are so not on the agenda
Back to the Ethics prof's talk, I found myself really infuriated with how he was talking about people considering international rotations. I got a very us vs. them vibe... like we must go save these people who can't seem to make it like us (no recognition of the histories of oppression). He also referred to "Third World Countries," a phrasing that would get one heavily criticized in Boston. I find myself watching people closely when I'm talking to them and choosing my words carefully b/c I'm not sure I'll be understood. In a way, it's like I'm talking around the word I want to use. Kind of like what I do when I'm trying to say something in Spanish and don't know the precise word I want so I just end up describing it instead. Works for Texans too, I guess.
3. I have identified why there is a obesity EPIDEMIC here.
The shit these people eat is beyond terrible. I'm freaking out in a way b/c yesterday the President of the Health Science Center was basically lecturing us about taking care of ourselves and eating well even though that's sometimes hard to do when under stress and with limited time to make good meals. Well, wouldn't you know that only about half an hour later we go outside where they have snacks for us which consists of a few tables literally fully of candy bars and chips. Breakfast has yet to include anything beyond muffins, scones, and cinnamon rolls so I'm making sure to wake up early enough to eat my own at home. Typically I put skim milk in my coffee, they only provide half and half so my digestive tract is tumbling over that one. All in all, I've gotten much less excited about the prospect of free food around this place b/c pretty much all of it seems guaranteed to make me fat, esp now that I'll be leading a much more sedentary lifestyle than I was.
I continue to feel stressed financially. Every day there seems to be one more obligation that I hadn't planned for even though I did A LOT of very careful planning and budgeting. I keep describing it as "bleeding money." I don't know at what point this becomes normal, if it ever will for me. Everything and everyone keeps telling me to just make it through the first semester, so I'm trying to work in little bites at this point, but ignoring the big picture enough to really do that is beyond difficult.
Many spanks,
BBC ;)