Give me your tired, your poor...
Tuesday was a pretty interesting day. I had a tutorial on The Jungle for my American studies class and a seminar in history on how the British Empire affected British identities. For the tutorial, each of us had to do a presentation in groups with each person speaking. There was this one guy (dunno his name and I don't care so we'll just call him "Wanker") who was the most conceited, vulgar, arrogant, stupid, brand-name wearing jerk that I have ever seen in my life. From his stupid designer trucker cap to his Abercrombie shirt to his trendy sneakers, I hate every part of him. Not that he did anything to me personally, it's just that I can't stand looking at him. He thinks he's such hot shit and everything. Wanker had to jump over the desks to get to the front of the class, sit on the teacher's desk in front like he owned the place, and while his other groupmates were presenting he kept on making vulgar facial gestures with his tongue to this girl in the class and kept doing this stupid hair flipping thing. God, I can't stand guys like that. And Wanker talks out of his ass too much.
But the seminar was really interesting--we went over our class time by like 25 minutes 'cause the debates were raging about immigrants and stuff. Basically there were two sides; one side (Ian) said that immigrants should not have to assimilate fully into society and that they should be able to keep their old cultural identities. The other side (some gal) said that immigrants "use and abuse the system" and should have to assimilate to British culture "since it was their choice to come here in the first place." Her reasoning was pretty lame to me--just because you move to a different country, you have to become just like them? Whatever. But I didn't say anything in class (other than when Leighton went around the table and made all of us say something a couple of times) because I don't know anything about the immigrant problem in Britain--all I would have to say on the topic would have to do with the US. Plus, the debate was raging without my help anyway and I didn't want to interrupt. But I felt stupid for not saying anything when I wanted to so I wrote Leighton a long-ass e-mail yesterday responding to a lot of the things that were said in class the day before. I saw him at the German film showing right after I sent it and he was like, "Jamie, I read your e-mail. Why didn't you bring this up in the seminar?" (I had written a lot about California's xenophobia and dual identities and such). I was like, "Uhhhh...'cause it doesn't have to do with British identities." Yeah, and I'm chicken shit. But then he made me share my thoughts with the people at the film showing (there were only five of us--me, Megan, two people from my history class that were at the seminar (Ian and Jenn) and some other gal I didn't know) and it wasn't too bad. I only brought up one point 'cause we didn't have much time to discuss before the film started anyway. But Ian told me that in Britian there is a new law (or they are trying to pass a new law) that forces asylum seekers to register with the British consulate within 24 hours of their arrival. It takes 8 months for them to get clearance to come to the country, then if they don't register within 24 hours, they are considered an illegal immigrant and if they're found out, they are deported back to their country, and would have to try again to immigrate to Britain. But the thing is, it's hard for me to gather all my thoughts and explain them during the seminars. I dunno...I have to mull over things for a while, do a little bit of research and thinking, and then I could respond to what other people have to say and add my own opinions. And I have contributed SOMETHING to each seminar (except for one) which is a great improvement 'cause I usually never say ANYTHING in class. And I hate speaking out loud. I just feel stupid 'cause I get so nervous that I stumble over my words and whathaveyou. Blah. Time! That's all I need--just some time to think!
Essay is due next Tuesday...BOO!!! Presentation on German Expressionism next Tuesday--BOO!!! Dublin next Wednesday--YAAAAY!!!
But the seminar was really interesting--we went over our class time by like 25 minutes 'cause the debates were raging about immigrants and stuff. Basically there were two sides; one side (Ian) said that immigrants should not have to assimilate fully into society and that they should be able to keep their old cultural identities. The other side (some gal) said that immigrants "use and abuse the system" and should have to assimilate to British culture "since it was their choice to come here in the first place." Her reasoning was pretty lame to me--just because you move to a different country, you have to become just like them? Whatever. But I didn't say anything in class (other than when Leighton went around the table and made all of us say something a couple of times) because I don't know anything about the immigrant problem in Britain--all I would have to say on the topic would have to do with the US. Plus, the debate was raging without my help anyway and I didn't want to interrupt. But I felt stupid for not saying anything when I wanted to so I wrote Leighton a long-ass e-mail yesterday responding to a lot of the things that were said in class the day before. I saw him at the German film showing right after I sent it and he was like, "Jamie, I read your e-mail. Why didn't you bring this up in the seminar?" (I had written a lot about California's xenophobia and dual identities and such). I was like, "Uhhhh...'cause it doesn't have to do with British identities." Yeah, and I'm chicken shit. But then he made me share my thoughts with the people at the film showing (there were only five of us--me, Megan, two people from my history class that were at the seminar (Ian and Jenn) and some other gal I didn't know) and it wasn't too bad. I only brought up one point 'cause we didn't have much time to discuss before the film started anyway. But Ian told me that in Britian there is a new law (or they are trying to pass a new law) that forces asylum seekers to register with the British consulate within 24 hours of their arrival. It takes 8 months for them to get clearance to come to the country, then if they don't register within 24 hours, they are considered an illegal immigrant and if they're found out, they are deported back to their country, and would have to try again to immigrate to Britain. But the thing is, it's hard for me to gather all my thoughts and explain them during the seminars. I dunno...I have to mull over things for a while, do a little bit of research and thinking, and then I could respond to what other people have to say and add my own opinions. And I have contributed SOMETHING to each seminar (except for one) which is a great improvement 'cause I usually never say ANYTHING in class. And I hate speaking out loud. I just feel stupid 'cause I get so nervous that I stumble over my words and whathaveyou. Blah. Time! That's all I need--just some time to think!
Essay is due next Tuesday...BOO!!! Presentation on German Expressionism next Tuesday--BOO!!! Dublin next Wednesday--YAAAAY!!!