The first term of university has been a roller coaster. Arriving at UBC as an international student, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Initially, I was nervous about finding my way in a new setting, let alone a new country. However, these concerns were soon slipped away after meeting other students and professors. Everyone was so welcoming and made me feel at home, and this allowed me to get the most out of my education at UBC.

I’ve found the courses to be challenging yet interesting, and I think I’ve grown as a student and a person over the past term. Coming into university, I didn’t view myself as the strongest writer, and my courses have really tested my ability and forced me to improve my writing skill.

ASTU has not only given me opportunities to better my writing skill, it has allowed me to become a scholarly writer. I had not thought about using abstractions to reinforce my points in my writing before coming here and participating in this course. Throughout this first term, I’ve seen my writing improve and I notice it mimics more of the scholarly writings that we’ve read than my writing had before.

Furthermore, I have learned how to find useful peer-reviewed sources to support my ideas and opinions. ASTU has taught me how to implement this valuable research that other scholars have done into my own scholarly writing. The ability to do so has increased the value of my work and it gives more validity and truth to my arguments. The method of having these scholarly writers converse in a literary review really helps me convey what they are trying to say individually.

The combination of having new scholarly writing skills and implementing research in my writing will be very useful in the future. I am looking forward to the second term and having the ability to rely on these skills I have developed as well as learning new skills to further improve my writing.

I have been a Facebook user for about seven years. When I first joined, it was because everyone else was, and they told me I should get a profile. It seemed like a cool new thing to do, and a neat way to stay connected with friends. I rarely checked my profile, and I didn’t even use my real name. However, as I got older, I started spending more and more time on the site. Eventually, it became my primary means of communication with my friends whom I didn’t see every day. It was also a way for people to present themselves to each other through the use of photos, status updates, and likes. However, many people nowadays are getting most of their news from Facebook.

Eli Pariser pointed out in his Ted Talk, Beware online “filter bubbles” the ways that Facebook and Google are filtering information that is tailored towards the individual user. In essence, a user who expresses interest in certain topics, through things such as the device used or search history, will begin seeing updates and results that are more related to those subjects. The point in this is so people who are using the internet will see things pop up that they are more interested in. In a society that is becoming more and more reliant on these sites for information, this could be dangerous.

It is scary to think that everyone’s web experience is filtered. Pariser proved his “filter bubble” by telling two friends, one who lives in America and another who lives in Egypt, to search the word ‘Egypt’ on Google. As this was during the Arab Spring, the American got results all about the turmoil in Cairo. However, the friend from Egypt did not receive any results that related to the Arab Spring, but rather travel information. This means that some people may not be receiving the whole truth to the topic they search.

The internet was created to be open-source and free from moderation. However, Eli Pariser directed our attention to proof that this is not the case. Facebook, the most visited website on the internet, is going against the foundation of the web and is moderating its content. It is not allowing users to gain new insights and new information, but rather making it so they see only things they agree with and already know.

The filtering done by these sites is harmful to society. We develop certain views and for society to function these views must be challenged. Facebook and Google are taking away differing views, and thus the ability to challenge is diminished. It is important for users of these sites to keep this filter bubble in mind when browsing and to not become shortsighted.

God Grew Tired of us is a documentary that follows the lives of three “lost boys” from Sudan. The film depicts the struggles the boys went through as they escaped from a civil war in Sudan to Ethiopia, and eventually to a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. By listening to their stories, viewers can understand the struggles they went through in their lives and how hard it is for them to move on. From initially losing their family and homes to losing their friends while traveling, the pain the boys went through is inconceivable to us in Western Society.

Eventually, the three boys were invited to live in the United States and start new lives away from the struggles they had been experiencing. Viewers witness their confusion as they transition from their third-world culture to a modern society. Some of them are treated poorly by Americans at some point, and that makes their transition even harder. What many Americans don’t realize is what kind of trauma these refugees are escaping. Most Americans have never, and will never, experience something as severe as one day in the lost boys’ lives.

What struck me the most about the documentary, however, is how these boys persevered in a new society that wasn’t entirely welcoming. They were entirely grateful for the opportunity to live in America and start new lives, and they did everything they could to help out their family and friends back home. They did not forget who they really were. They were essentially working not for themselves, but for those that were left behind in the midst of trauma in Kakuma and Sudan.

I live outside of Portland, Maine, and we have a large refugee population. In my free time for the past three years before coming to university, I helped these refugees by moving donated furniture into their homes and helping them organize their belongings. I learned so much about their culture and was able to witness how they were transitioning into American society. I noticed, as God Grew Tired of Us highlighted, how grateful they were for all the help they were receiving. All of them offered me something in return, such as coming over and helping me at my house or cooking dinner for me and my family. A few families would not let me refuse and gave me tea or a meal. Even though these families were living in complete poverty in an entirely new world, they found room to thank those who helped them in their transition.

What disgusts me is that there are some people who think these people are mooching off the system. That there is some way for them to turn their lives around instantly upon arriving in the States and make money like everyone else. These people do not understand what the refugees have endured in their previous lives, and how hard it is for them to start anew. These experiences make me look at life differently. Not everyone lives the same lives. Some people go through unimaginable events that they may never fully recover from. It is almost impossible for them to escape the trauma they endured, and there are some people who make their lives even more miserable. It is important to consider what the lost boys went through, and what all refugees are going through when they come to a new society straight from places with trauma that any Westerner could not imagine.