Hello everyone! I am Katyayani from a town called Dehradun in India. I am in 2nd year (Arts) planning to major in Political Science or Psychology (or both). I am hoping to get a graduate degree in Law but that’s too far to think about. Some of my hobbies include painting, cooking, photography, horse riding and basketball. I have been playing basketball ever since I was 6 and am a national level basketball player. Right now, I live with my parents who decided to shift to Vancouver which I now call my ‘new home’.

I have always been intrigued by literature because I had to study a lot of Shakespeare in high school but had never really been into reading books because it always felt like a huge commitment, until I was forced to. Joining UBC, especially the CAP  program has made me like reading a lot (also because I got used to it).

My expectations for this course is to fall in love with reading or, to be realistic, at least like it. Before the first class, I’d always thought that this course would quite literally be about the world of romance and I would get to read and interpret about ‘love’. What I found surprising was that the word romance itself is derived from the official language of the Roman empire, thus this course explores a lot other than just romance. From the introduction lectures, I learnt that we will be looking into various novels from the 20th and 21th century written by the most influential authors in the world which I am looking forward to. We will also be seeking commonalities and differences between texts written in various languages from around the world, especially Eastern Europe translated into English. 

What I really caught hold about the first lecture is that Romance Studies has no territories, unlike other official languages of the world. It is a common linguistic heritage of novels, just an offspring of Latin. It does not belong to a specific geographical region therefore fits into or finds a place anywhere and everywhere. There is no right answer in this course giving us an opportunity to explore our thinking and find meaning in accordance to what fits us well. I am excited to dive deep into literature and challenge myself to explore various different themes. I hope to spend a great semester with everyone in this class. Welcome and good luck!