Hi everyone! My name is May, and I am a second year arts student here at UBC. I have not declared a major yet, but I do intend on majoring in international studies. I was born in Beijing, China, but I moved here to Vancouver when I was around three years old and have grown up here since then. I did go back to Beijing when I was in third grade and attended a local elementary school for two years. My parents wanted me to develop proficient reading and writing skills in mandarin as I barely knew how to read or write in mandarin prior to moving back to China. I moved back here in Vancouver in fifth grade and stayed here ever since.
I really enjoyed reading books as a child during elementary school. I particularly loved reading about fantasy stories, especially those that talked about fairies. However, I stopped reading in my spare time at one point before highschool. Now, I rarely read books in general, and only do so if reading something was required for a course. I did want to pick up this hobby that I had before, but never took the action to pick up a book. This course provides the opportunity that motivates me to engage with reading through the various selections of books available. My goal is to be able to voluntarily read books and to genuinely enjoy reading even after the end of this course.
I first encountered the idea of “romance” as a genre of music in the romantic era when I was studying for my RCM music history test. At first, I thought this genre of music would have something to do with the concept of “love”. However, I soon learned that the romantic genre of music is a form of extremely expressive music that originated in Europe. This is also the only understanding I had in general about the concept of “romance” prior to taking this course. I had no idea how this same concept is understood and unfolded in literature. After watching the lecture video, I realized that romance studies is not just about studying romance languages. I look forward to learning about and developing a more thorough understanding of what romance studies is!
Hi May, it’s nice to meet you. My parents did the same thing and sent me back for grade 1 in China as well! They started to worry when my sister and I started replying back to them in only English. Did you still maintain your Chinese reading and writing skills? I see you also took the RCM music history test, what instrument do you play? Looking forwards to seeing you in class!
Welcome to the course, May! I hope we can help you with your goal of once more enjoying literature.
As for the different meanings of “Romance” or “Romantic”… Romanticism is also a literary genre, generally associated with the end of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth (and in British literature with figures such as Wordsworth and Coleridge etc.). We won’t be reading any of that. 🙂
Hi May! I completely understand the struggle of losing your passion for reading, as it is hard to find the time in the busy lives of college students. Personally I used to be an avid reader in high school, but since I’m in a field of study that does not require much romance studies I kind of lost that. This course seems to have quite a variety of novels that can get us back into the groove, so I’m sure we will enjoy it!