And I am reminded... "Que brilhava a Muiraquitã na mão de Macunaíma"
Dear Journal,
As you can see I have not written in quite a while. Many things have changed since my last entry. This quarter I took Portuguese 730 (Latin to Portuguese), Portuguese 650 (Afro-Brazilian Literature), and History 172N (Latin America 1800 - Present). I had an arduous quarter to say the least. Concerning Portuguese 730, the class was basically a one room school house as the professor taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. It was interesting, stimulating, and quite difficult. Although we had a negligible amount of homework our final project, which according to the professor was to "...demonstrate that you have learned something", was nerve-wracking and frustrating. Although I received an A for the quarter, I spent much time pouring over my notes and creating the final paper. Thanks to Gilberto I finally found an end to my work as he assured me, as he had taken other graduate classes by Dr. R., that I had nothing to worry about and that my work was graduate level work. I must confess that his statement filled me with pride and confidence. Thanks Gilberto. :)
On the other hand, Portuguese 650 was much more predictable then 730. It was certainly not easy and much more disorganized. Dr. C. is a fabulous professor in that she extremely knowledgeable about Brazilian and Portuguese literature. Unfortunately she was not well versed in Afro-Brazilian Literature which was the entire premise of the class. Considering the fact that the books she ordered never arrived, that we had to make copies of materials on our own time with our individual funds, that she cancelled classes at the last minute without proper warning, was clearly guilty of nepotism as she treated her son more leniently in class, and the only book we did get was in English (and useless/terrible/factually fakakta), her class was less than optimum. Aside from the professor, I learned much on my own time researching Benedita da Silva and her socio-political struggles in contemporary Brazil. I know that I received an A on the final paper and most assuredly an A on my presentation which incited heated debate and took up almost an entire period. With these two classes over I am now finished with my Portuguese minor. My Spanish minor was finished last quarter so I only have to finish up my other requirements.
History 172N was the last class in my history sequence and was taught by one of my favorite professors of my entire undergraduate degree. Dr. G. was absolutely riveting in History of Latin American Women (History 533.06) so it was not surprising that History 172N was just as interesting. Although she expected clearly more than a 100 level class it was worth all of the late nights and stress. I feel like I walked away with a better understanding of the 19th and 20th centuries thanks to her. The format of the class was mainly essay writing which happens to be my forte. For all of the papers (10 page midterm take-home exam, 15 page final paper, and a 15 page final take-home exam) I focused on Brazil and Mexico. I really enjoyed working with the two aforementioned centuries in each of my exams. My final paper was supposed to outline the causes and rise of the gay liberation movement in Brazil and Mexico during the 20th century. Unfortunately, I was shocked to discover that there was an extreme lack of scholarship concerning lesbianism during this period in both of these countries. As a result I had to focus solely on male homosexuality during this time period and annotate what I had discovered. My TA in the end said that I had produced graduate level work and that it was worthy of a graduate presentation. She went on to say that I had received that highest grade out of the whole class (100 students) on all of my assignments. I was absolutely beaming after our meeting. To think that I almost quit school because I bought into all the negative comments of my "so-called" friends in the dorms. Not one of them made it through...much less did as well as I did.
In any event, I finished this quarter with a 4.0 average. Although I now have a GPA of 3.4, I know that it is mathematically impossible for me to reach 3.5. I will not be graduating "cum laude." It was a great disappointment for me but I am dealing with it. I do have a 4.0 average in my Portuguese minor, a 3.7 in my Spanish minor, and a 3.98 in my major of International Studies of Latin America so I think that those figures with speak for themselves. Also since I tested out of 2 levels of French I can point out that I had been more an ordinary student.
Turning my attention to the future, I have developed a tentative plan for the next year or so. This summer I will be completing the Kaplan GRE preparatory course which ends in late July. In early August I will take the GRE test and will start receiving packets of information about graduate schools of my choice. I will fill out the forms, submit essays, and obtain various letters of recommendation which 5 professors offered to write for me concerning graduate work in Portuguese Literature, Spanish Literature, Latin American History, Linguistics, and Regional Studies (multiple disciplines). During the rest of autumn quarter I will be meeting with members of AISEC to arrange an internship in Argentina starting in December and ending in late June. Since one of my friends is in charge of Latin American internship placements at The Ohio State University I feel confident that I will get some sort of position as she has assured me of it. If not, I will find a job teaching English in Buenos Aires which I am sure would not be extremely difficult. One way or another I will get to Argentina. This is my only shot at preparing myself for what is to come. With real in-country language experience under my belt I will be expand my understanding and proficiency in Spanish. Also, if I travel to Buenos Aires, I will have an opportunity to visit Montevideo, Uruguay. As many of my friends already know, Uruguay is one of my favorite countries I have studies about and I have dreamed of visiting for some time. After Uruguay, I would love to travel to São Paulo to practice my Português.
In any event when I do return from Argentina I will then have received my acceptance letters. I'm unsure whether in my absence my parents or Kevin will have opened the letters and informed me of either my entrance or rejection from my universities and colleges of choice. I will accept one of the offers and then start graduate school in the autumn quarter of 2006. All in all I have to make my dreams come true. It will be very difficult being away from Kevin, but it has to be done in order to put me on the right track to academia or industry.
On a side note, Kevin's brother just received a promotion from his company and will be transferred to Hawaii in July. His company wants him to improve performance of the Hawaiian office so they have paid all of his moving expenses and rented him a beachfront home worth in excess of 5 million dollars. They will be paying $7,000 a month in rent for 2 to 6 years while he is improving the business. It was built in the 1950s, has a tiled pool, and has multiple sets of glass sliding doors in the back of the house which open toward the ocean. It has a large yard and many fruit and palm trees. It also has a boat dock, but no sandy beach (although one is located very near). The reason that I am so excited about his and his wife's good fortune is because they have invited us to visit for 2 or 3 weeks in September. We will be going together and I am so excited that we will have the opportunity to take a long vacation together before I go to Argentina. Also it doesn't hurt that it's in our price range...cheap!
Well, I think that I will leave you now journal. I hope to write again soon but as I have been promoted to the position of Senior Agent, and am a member of management at work, I will be working more hours this summer and in the autumn. It was great to make more money, gain some real managerial experience, and take on more responsibility. I love my job and you can't beat the experience of supervising international reservations in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Farsi, Tamil, Walif, Arabic, etc. Although I can only understand English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French reservations I think I'm learning a great deal about foreign language and the importance of an ounce of patience. :)
***P.S. - I almost forgot. I bought a new cat from the pet store one week ago. He is a white and grey kitten which looks a lot like Benjamin/Benny (my other cat). They will both have long hair and are very friendly. I was a bit apprehensive about bringing home Samuel/Sammy as I thought they would most likely would not like each other initialy. They say that it is unusual for two male cats to coexist without some hissing or posturing for dominance. But amazingly enough, Benny instantly loved our new addition to the family with open arms. Almost instantly they started to play as if they had long been friends. It was so very cute to see both of they content. We had been worrying Benny was lonely and I think we were right. He seems as happy as we are to have little Sammy. ;) ***
As you can see I have not written in quite a while. Many things have changed since my last entry. This quarter I took Portuguese 730 (Latin to Portuguese), Portuguese 650 (Afro-Brazilian Literature), and History 172N (Latin America 1800 - Present). I had an arduous quarter to say the least. Concerning Portuguese 730, the class was basically a one room school house as the professor taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. It was interesting, stimulating, and quite difficult. Although we had a negligible amount of homework our final project, which according to the professor was to "...demonstrate that you have learned something", was nerve-wracking and frustrating. Although I received an A for the quarter, I spent much time pouring over my notes and creating the final paper. Thanks to Gilberto I finally found an end to my work as he assured me, as he had taken other graduate classes by Dr. R., that I had nothing to worry about and that my work was graduate level work. I must confess that his statement filled me with pride and confidence. Thanks Gilberto. :)
On the other hand, Portuguese 650 was much more predictable then 730. It was certainly not easy and much more disorganized. Dr. C. is a fabulous professor in that she extremely knowledgeable about Brazilian and Portuguese literature. Unfortunately she was not well versed in Afro-Brazilian Literature which was the entire premise of the class. Considering the fact that the books she ordered never arrived, that we had to make copies of materials on our own time with our individual funds, that she cancelled classes at the last minute without proper warning, was clearly guilty of nepotism as she treated her son more leniently in class, and the only book we did get was in English (and useless/terrible/factually fakakta), her class was less than optimum. Aside from the professor, I learned much on my own time researching Benedita da Silva and her socio-political struggles in contemporary Brazil. I know that I received an A on the final paper and most assuredly an A on my presentation which incited heated debate and took up almost an entire period. With these two classes over I am now finished with my Portuguese minor. My Spanish minor was finished last quarter so I only have to finish up my other requirements.
History 172N was the last class in my history sequence and was taught by one of my favorite professors of my entire undergraduate degree. Dr. G. was absolutely riveting in History of Latin American Women (History 533.06) so it was not surprising that History 172N was just as interesting. Although she expected clearly more than a 100 level class it was worth all of the late nights and stress. I feel like I walked away with a better understanding of the 19th and 20th centuries thanks to her. The format of the class was mainly essay writing which happens to be my forte. For all of the papers (10 page midterm take-home exam, 15 page final paper, and a 15 page final take-home exam) I focused on Brazil and Mexico. I really enjoyed working with the two aforementioned centuries in each of my exams. My final paper was supposed to outline the causes and rise of the gay liberation movement in Brazil and Mexico during the 20th century. Unfortunately, I was shocked to discover that there was an extreme lack of scholarship concerning lesbianism during this period in both of these countries. As a result I had to focus solely on male homosexuality during this time period and annotate what I had discovered. My TA in the end said that I had produced graduate level work and that it was worthy of a graduate presentation. She went on to say that I had received that highest grade out of the whole class (100 students) on all of my assignments. I was absolutely beaming after our meeting. To think that I almost quit school because I bought into all the negative comments of my "so-called" friends in the dorms. Not one of them made it through...much less did as well as I did.
In any event, I finished this quarter with a 4.0 average. Although I now have a GPA of 3.4, I know that it is mathematically impossible for me to reach 3.5. I will not be graduating "cum laude." It was a great disappointment for me but I am dealing with it. I do have a 4.0 average in my Portuguese minor, a 3.7 in my Spanish minor, and a 3.98 in my major of International Studies of Latin America so I think that those figures with speak for themselves. Also since I tested out of 2 levels of French I can point out that I had been more an ordinary student.
Turning my attention to the future, I have developed a tentative plan for the next year or so. This summer I will be completing the Kaplan GRE preparatory course which ends in late July. In early August I will take the GRE test and will start receiving packets of information about graduate schools of my choice. I will fill out the forms, submit essays, and obtain various letters of recommendation which 5 professors offered to write for me concerning graduate work in Portuguese Literature, Spanish Literature, Latin American History, Linguistics, and Regional Studies (multiple disciplines). During the rest of autumn quarter I will be meeting with members of AISEC to arrange an internship in Argentina starting in December and ending in late June. Since one of my friends is in charge of Latin American internship placements at The Ohio State University I feel confident that I will get some sort of position as she has assured me of it. If not, I will find a job teaching English in Buenos Aires which I am sure would not be extremely difficult. One way or another I will get to Argentina. This is my only shot at preparing myself for what is to come. With real in-country language experience under my belt I will be expand my understanding and proficiency in Spanish. Also, if I travel to Buenos Aires, I will have an opportunity to visit Montevideo, Uruguay. As many of my friends already know, Uruguay is one of my favorite countries I have studies about and I have dreamed of visiting for some time. After Uruguay, I would love to travel to São Paulo to practice my Português.
In any event when I do return from Argentina I will then have received my acceptance letters. I'm unsure whether in my absence my parents or Kevin will have opened the letters and informed me of either my entrance or rejection from my universities and colleges of choice. I will accept one of the offers and then start graduate school in the autumn quarter of 2006. All in all I have to make my dreams come true. It will be very difficult being away from Kevin, but it has to be done in order to put me on the right track to academia or industry.
On a side note, Kevin's brother just received a promotion from his company and will be transferred to Hawaii in July. His company wants him to improve performance of the Hawaiian office so they have paid all of his moving expenses and rented him a beachfront home worth in excess of 5 million dollars. They will be paying $7,000 a month in rent for 2 to 6 years while he is improving the business. It was built in the 1950s, has a tiled pool, and has multiple sets of glass sliding doors in the back of the house which open toward the ocean. It has a large yard and many fruit and palm trees. It also has a boat dock, but no sandy beach (although one is located very near). The reason that I am so excited about his and his wife's good fortune is because they have invited us to visit for 2 or 3 weeks in September. We will be going together and I am so excited that we will have the opportunity to take a long vacation together before I go to Argentina. Also it doesn't hurt that it's in our price range...cheap!
Well, I think that I will leave you now journal. I hope to write again soon but as I have been promoted to the position of Senior Agent, and am a member of management at work, I will be working more hours this summer and in the autumn. It was great to make more money, gain some real managerial experience, and take on more responsibility. I love my job and you can't beat the experience of supervising international reservations in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Farsi, Tamil, Walif, Arabic, etc. Although I can only understand English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French reservations I think I'm learning a great deal about foreign language and the importance of an ounce of patience. :)
***P.S. - I almost forgot. I bought a new cat from the pet store one week ago. He is a white and grey kitten which looks a lot like Benjamin/Benny (my other cat). They will both have long hair and are very friendly. I was a bit apprehensive about bringing home Samuel/Sammy as I thought they would most likely would not like each other initialy. They say that it is unusual for two male cats to coexist without some hissing or posturing for dominance. But amazingly enough, Benny instantly loved our new addition to the family with open arms. Almost instantly they started to play as if they had long been friends. It was so very cute to see both of they content. We had been worrying Benny was lonely and I think we were right. He seems as happy as we are to have little Sammy. ;) ***