Hello there, English 470!

I’m very excited to be taking this course. I’ve never taken a course with Distance Education before, so I’m interested in seeing how this learning method will work out. I don’t even have to leave the house!

I’m currently in my last year of my Bachelor of Arts program, Majoring in English, at the Okanagan campus of UBC. My degree has been a long time in the making, as I began studying in 2010 while I was working part-time, so I will be excited to finally get it done. However, the completion of this degree does not mark the end of my career as a student. After completing my degree, my plan is to move over to Vancouver in order to attend the Master of Library and Information Studies program.

As well as this exciting time in my educational career, this summer has been a season full of changes for myself. Me and my sister, Petra, recently moved to Kelowna. I decided it was time to live closer to campus and my sister is looking for a city more exciting than what we’re used to in Vernon, which is about 30-45 minutes away.

So far, living with my sister isn’t too bad, but we do keep getting into silly fights such as the best way to cook noodles, or why her cat is so smelly.

I’m looking forward to exploring all that Kelowna has to offer. We’ve already been visiting some of the local breweries, like the Tree Brewing Company. I worked at a liquor store over the summer, so now I’m obsessed with craft beer. We’ve also been exploring the downtown area, as well as the parks near the lake. It’s such a big city with a lot to explore!

As for me, I’m a bit of a general nerd that loves reading, comic books, video games, film, television, etc. It’s a very long list. I’m also in the middle of learning Japanese, partly for my language requirement and partly because it will be really amazing to watch Japanese films without the subtitles. If you have a passing curiosity of picking up some Japanese, I highly recommend taking a look at Tofugu. They don’t just provide guides on learning Japanese, but post a lot of interesting articles on various aspects of Japanese culture. They even have a guide on how to use Studio Ghibli films to learn Japanese!

I can’t wait to get started on this course, to get to know all of you and share our opinions on the course material. I like the idea of focusing on the aspect of storytelling in this course, so I can’t wait to see what comes in the future. Also, relating the concept of storytelling towards the larger concept of identity will be a constant this course. In my opinion, identity has always been a very important part of being a Canadian as we look to create an identity that both incorporates our reputation as a multicultural nation, while also setting ourselves apart from pre-existing cultural identities. This seems like it will be very different from the contact I’ve had in the past with Canadian Literature, which I’m excited for.

Until next time,
Hope Prince