Hello everyone!
I’m posting really early since the next two weeks would be crazy hectic for me and everyone else. Let’s get down to the last blog posts of our first year!
Majority of the bloggers (Magda, Elizabeth, Erin, Paolina, Alex, Inneke, Kate, Maria, and Isaiah) chose to reflect their year in ASTU and the insights they have gained. One blog that gave me that “aha” moment was Joseph’s. He brought up an interesting point regarding how “aha” moments are usually associated with good ideas and not the ‘dark’ topics we talked about such as terrorism, trauma, and war. He concluded with the “need to search through this darkness for a light more permanent that the little sparks of greatness that give us hope to keep going.” Very poetic! This is a great way in looking at the world especially as global citizens.
Another topic that some bloggers touched on is of course, one of the most interesting novels we’ve read this year: The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Sandra analyzed the character of Chris and the cause of his death. Melissa looked at the romance genre and made a connection between the relationship of Changez-Erica and America-Middle-East. Martin crticized those Americans who are prejudiced against Middle-Easterns and look at them as “terrorists.”
In connection to the novel, two bloggers (Jackson & Clara) wrote about a subject that I can 100% relate to: immigration. Clara focused on the struggle of identity that most immigrants felt and questioned who determines their identity. She brought up an interesting question as well that is very relevant to my experience: “If I consider myself Canadian can I lay claim to being French, Korean, Deutsch and Scottish? Is it the the percentage of your ancestry that is from a certain place that determines whether you can claim that heritage?”
Overall, this year has been amazing! All blogs were written well and showed how much we’ve learned in ASTU. Good job everyone! (give yourself a pat on the back, we’ve made it haha)
P.S. I tried to include everybody since it’s the last one
Therese
In Erin’s blog,
she talked about coming into university with a strong mindset that she was going to try to major in Political Science. As the year progressed, she realized her weaknesses that lie in the classes she signed up for and changed her mind. She has now decided to go for a science-based future at UBC. After reading her blog, I realized that I had similar troubles as well. In the beginning of the year I originally planned to major in International Relations as I wanted to go into jobs related to foreign affairs / public relations / human relations. As the year progressed I slowly lost passion for this goal and I am aiming towards a more quantitative study rather than qualitative as I enjoyed the hard sciences and math courses in high school. Nonetheless, I am truly grateful and happy that I chose the Global Citizens program this year as I gained a large understanding of globalization and how one little thing can create a “butterfly effect”. Thank you CAP!
Martin