Junior Term Abroad
So here's what's on my platter right now.
If I don't ruin myself during the time between April 21 and mid-September, I will be taking my Junior Term Abroad, a program under Ateneo's School of Management. I will be studying in a university called ESC Pau, which is located in a town in the southern part of France, near Spain. (The "ESC" means "ecole superieure de commerce et management". Lord help me, I can't even pronounce the name of the school I'll be going to. Who knew that "Pau" was said "Po"? As in "Polar bear"? I certainly didn't until recently.)
I'll be under the International Management Semester, which is a Master's level program. It gives me happy tingles when I look at the curriculum. They have "squee" classes like "Knowledge Transfer, Global Network and Innovation" and "International Marketing Strategy and Global Branding". These are the things I've craved since I was young.
I qualified and I got in, but what terrifies me is the "bread" part of this JTA experience--what will happen before and after the semester away. JTA Sem One and Two here in the Philippines actually sandwich the semester abroad, and are considered the hardest possible things I can go through in college. Since you need to have at least a 2.8 QPI to get in to the JTA program, they expect you to be mad smart. I might be taking classes with Management Honors and ME people. Me? Seriously. I lack the stamina. The JTA Semesters start during the summer, and end next summer. Non-stop work. Once it begins, there will be no break for me, apparently. That's why they extended our break now.
The worst part of it is that the Philosophy classes for JTA students are usually in Filipino. A girl I know who just finished her JTA Sem Two was bemoaning having to discuss Heidegger in her oral exam for 20 minutes in Filipino. In Filipino. I can barely carry on a two minute casual conversation in pure Filipino, much less an exam full of lofty, abstract ideas.
I only found out about this bit of information on the day I was leaving my dorm, when I was small talk-ing with the secretary at the Dean of SOM's office. I wrote a pleading, pitiful letter requesting an alternative, and for days I waited for a response. When I called SOM, they said that they're doing what they can, but it's really up to the Philosophy department. Grar.
I heard a horror story about a girl in the JTA program who failed a subject during JTA Sem One. She wasn't allowed to leave to her chosen location, so she stayed for five months at home, doing nothing until the others came back. JTA has an irregular schedule, eh.
My heart breaks, for that is an honest possibility if I am forced to take Philosophy (my favorite subject in High School, for crying out loud) in Filipino.
So now, I twiddle my thumbs--preparing for either violent happiness or despair.
If I don't ruin myself during the time between April 21 and mid-September, I will be taking my Junior Term Abroad, a program under Ateneo's School of Management. I will be studying in a university called ESC Pau, which is located in a town in the southern part of France, near Spain. (The "ESC" means "ecole superieure de commerce et management". Lord help me, I can't even pronounce the name of the school I'll be going to. Who knew that "Pau" was said "Po"? As in "Polar bear"? I certainly didn't until recently.)
I'll be under the International Management Semester, which is a Master's level program. It gives me happy tingles when I look at the curriculum. They have "squee" classes like "Knowledge Transfer, Global Network and Innovation" and "International Marketing Strategy and Global Branding". These are the things I've craved since I was young.
I qualified and I got in, but what terrifies me is the "bread" part of this JTA experience--what will happen before and after the semester away. JTA Sem One and Two here in the Philippines actually sandwich the semester abroad, and are considered the hardest possible things I can go through in college. Since you need to have at least a 2.8 QPI to get in to the JTA program, they expect you to be mad smart. I might be taking classes with Management Honors and ME people. Me? Seriously. I lack the stamina. The JTA Semesters start during the summer, and end next summer. Non-stop work. Once it begins, there will be no break for me, apparently. That's why they extended our break now.
The worst part of it is that the Philosophy classes for JTA students are usually in Filipino. A girl I know who just finished her JTA Sem Two was bemoaning having to discuss Heidegger in her oral exam for 20 minutes in Filipino. In Filipino. I can barely carry on a two minute casual conversation in pure Filipino, much less an exam full of lofty, abstract ideas.
I only found out about this bit of information on the day I was leaving my dorm, when I was small talk-ing with the secretary at the Dean of SOM's office. I wrote a pleading, pitiful letter requesting an alternative, and for days I waited for a response. When I called SOM, they said that they're doing what they can, but it's really up to the Philosophy department. Grar.
I heard a horror story about a girl in the JTA program who failed a subject during JTA Sem One. She wasn't allowed to leave to her chosen location, so she stayed for five months at home, doing nothing until the others came back. JTA has an irregular schedule, eh.
My heart breaks, for that is an honest possibility if I am forced to take Philosophy (my favorite subject in High School, for crying out loud) in Filipino.
So now, I twiddle my thumbs--preparing for either violent happiness or despair.