For those who are from Parker, I know I copied the Fourth Wall Production title but couldn't help it :D And for everyone else in general, although the title seems to indicate that this post is going to be dull boring stuff no one really cares about, i suggest you...THINK AGAIN!
Cause in this post I am going to dive deep into the adventurous realms of life as an exchange student; I'm going to be a critique of myself and I will certainly make a point of how..........wait........oh man! I sound like a fussy old lady: BOOORRRIINNNGG!
Ah! Never mind...So, It has been precisely 6 weeks and 2 days since I came to Chicago (I would include the hours, minutes and seconds and even micro seconds but all that shi-shi stuff ain't for me!). These 6 weeks and 2 days were indeed awesome. And what's different from this last post from my last one, is the fact that in this one, I am not going to go on and on about how awesome Chicago and my school Parker (<3) is, but I am going to actually tell you what has made this experience so awesome and that ladies and gents is the CHALLENGEs part!
Yes, it is quite challenging when you walk through the doors of your new school and the only person you know is the security guard (who you had met earlier sometime); it is certainly very challenging to navigate through the endless corridors and rooms of your new school and YES, it is very VERY challenging to be introduced to a completely new system of education and for the first time in your life, not being able to figure out how to do your homework!!
But the good news is that nothing of this sort happened to me! Ha! Take that culture shock! Oh wait.........I'm just kidding...Like other exchange students I have had my share of cultural differences as well. And in my opinion that is one of the major experiences as an exchange student when you see people freely snogging each other at public places..... did I say "major"?
And it's another story when you have no idea what you are supposed to do for that alien looking Maths homework! Your heart always pounds hard whenever you do anything independently around your host family's house because you believe that you are going to mess up again......BADLY. But you know what? You come to accept your surroundings sooner and later!
You take a deep breath and you say to yourself: "OK, I get it now. I know I can cope up with all this new stuff because you know what? I am standing in America!! Yes, America! The place where grapes look like cherries, and tomatoes look like peppers and peaches look like apricots!! Where down is OFF and up is ON (I confess I'm still having problems with this one). Where everything is new and completely different...BUT!!!! I'm also in the place which is filled with friendly people who have welcomed me so kindly into their community. I'm in the place where there is positive freedom of expression (personally, I just LOVE the freedom of expression here!). I'm in the place of resources teeming with thousands of varieties of lettuce and cheese I've never seen before! I know I CAN DO THIS!!" And this is how you get over your' culture shock! (Believe me: this works!)
And most of the time the cultural differences aren't that obvious and you don't even feel them unless you really think about them. Another major difference I feel in the American society (apart from PDA) is the liberal attitude. This attitude, though awesome in many aspects, has some other sides to it as well, which for me are very different indeed...For example, the behavior of students to teachers and kids to their parents. I personally believe that the American value of expression's freedom is very different from Pakistan's version. I am not saying that people in America are disrespectful to their elders in anyway, but I just feel it as a great difference from a society where teachers are thought to be "divine parents" and parents themselves are thought to be next in line for respect and reverence after God. Americans students are liberal. They have inherited this value from their elders and this suits them absolutely perfectly; But it is very weird occasionally to see a teenager challenge an elder in some way or another.
I have so much to talk about my life here that I feel that words can't do me justice. (And in any case I don't want to give away all my experiences in one go!). I won't talk about Parker here because Parker deserves a post (or many more) to itself and the wonderful people in it. I never really thought that I'd be so blessed to be placed in Parker and I vow to myself to work my behind off to make it worth it (and fun of course!) One of the ways that I really feel a lot of pain in my behind....I mean one of the ways that I am really making my experience rich and an excellent learning process for me is through community service! You won't believe how much fun it is to do community service here (a concept usually synonymous with arduous and dull work with many people)!
I have had done quite a wide variety of community service so far I think...From Temple Sholom's Monday Meal to Chicago Lights Urban Farm and more recently, The Chicago Health and Fitness expo, community service has proved to be an amazing chance to learn new practical skills and meet with loads of new people from every walk of life. To keep it short and sweet: COMMUNITY SERVICE ROCKS!
And as the year progresses, I hope to add more flavor to this side of my exchange experience. I am actually thinking of holding a fundraiser for a pet shelter at Parker soon which would also be amazing cultural experience! (*wink* for the Parker people). And I am also very very very very excited for IEW which is the International Education Week from November 10-18th, during which time I'll be doing presentations all over the school.
Right now, as I sip slowly through my delicious Chiquita Banana smoothie, I am thinking of all the amazing things that have happened over the past weeks which include (but are not limited to) THE COUNTY FAIR (I wish they had it everyday!), The Spirit Week, The AFS Retreat (Although I missed my Homecoming dance, I guess that was a right decision to make because the retreat was awesome and now I am SOOO excited for prom!), Samosa Chat @ The Indian Grill, Mathew Postlewaite's mind blowing Mascotance, and yea!!! THE FALL PLAY REHEARSALS!!! Which are just CRAZYYYYYYYYY!! And I mean it...literally! They are super super fun and I can't tell you how excited I am for the show itself! Other fun stuff include Meeting of the Minds (and the hilarious discussion) and yea the not-so-much-fun US History, Maths, Anatomy and Latin quizzes! Holy Goat! That reminds me, I have a homework to complete! As much as I would love to keep adding to this post I think this is long (and intellectually enlightening) enough. So until later!! Wish me luck for IEW!!!
Cause in this post I am going to dive deep into the adventurous realms of life as an exchange student; I'm going to be a critique of myself and I will certainly make a point of how..........wait........oh man! I sound like a fussy old lady: BOOORRRIINNNGG!
Ah! Never mind...So, It has been precisely 6 weeks and 2 days since I came to Chicago (I would include the hours, minutes and seconds and even micro seconds but all that shi-shi stuff ain't for me!). These 6 weeks and 2 days were indeed awesome. And what's different from this last post from my last one, is the fact that in this one, I am not going to go on and on about how awesome Chicago and my school Parker (<3) is, but I am going to actually tell you what has made this experience so awesome and that ladies and gents is the CHALLENGEs part!
Yes, it is quite challenging when you walk through the doors of your new school and the only person you know is the security guard (who you had met earlier sometime); it is certainly very challenging to navigate through the endless corridors and rooms of your new school and YES, it is very VERY challenging to be introduced to a completely new system of education and for the first time in your life, not being able to figure out how to do your homework!!
But the good news is that nothing of this sort happened to me! Ha! Take that culture shock! Oh wait.........I'm just kidding...Like other exchange students I have had my share of cultural differences as well. And in my opinion that is one of the major experiences as an exchange student when you see people freely snogging each other at public places..... did I say "major"?
And it's another story when you have no idea what you are supposed to do for that alien looking Maths homework! Your heart always pounds hard whenever you do anything independently around your host family's house because you believe that you are going to mess up again......BADLY. But you know what? You come to accept your surroundings sooner and later!
You take a deep breath and you say to yourself: "OK, I get it now. I know I can cope up with all this new stuff because you know what? I am standing in America!! Yes, America! The place where grapes look like cherries, and tomatoes look like peppers and peaches look like apricots!! Where down is OFF and up is ON (I confess I'm still having problems with this one). Where everything is new and completely different...BUT!!!! I'm also in the place which is filled with friendly people who have welcomed me so kindly into their community. I'm in the place where there is positive freedom of expression (personally, I just LOVE the freedom of expression here!). I'm in the place of resources teeming with thousands of varieties of lettuce and cheese I've never seen before! I know I CAN DO THIS!!" And this is how you get over your' culture shock! (Believe me: this works!)
And most of the time the cultural differences aren't that obvious and you don't even feel them unless you really think about them. Another major difference I feel in the American society (apart from PDA) is the liberal attitude. This attitude, though awesome in many aspects, has some other sides to it as well, which for me are very different indeed...For example, the behavior of students to teachers and kids to their parents. I personally believe that the American value of expression's freedom is very different from Pakistan's version. I am not saying that people in America are disrespectful to their elders in anyway, but I just feel it as a great difference from a society where teachers are thought to be "divine parents" and parents themselves are thought to be next in line for respect and reverence after God. Americans students are liberal. They have inherited this value from their elders and this suits them absolutely perfectly; But it is very weird occasionally to see a teenager challenge an elder in some way or another.
I have so much to talk about my life here that I feel that words can't do me justice. (And in any case I don't want to give away all my experiences in one go!). I won't talk about Parker here because Parker deserves a post (or many more) to itself and the wonderful people in it. I never really thought that I'd be so blessed to be placed in Parker and I vow to myself to work my behind off to make it worth it (and fun of course!) One of the ways that I really feel a lot of pain in my behind....I mean one of the ways that I am really making my experience rich and an excellent learning process for me is through community service! You won't believe how much fun it is to do community service here (a concept usually synonymous with arduous and dull work with many people)!
I have had done quite a wide variety of community service so far I think...From Temple Sholom's Monday Meal to Chicago Lights Urban Farm and more recently, The Chicago Health and Fitness expo, community service has proved to be an amazing chance to learn new practical skills and meet with loads of new people from every walk of life. To keep it short and sweet: COMMUNITY SERVICE ROCKS!
And as the year progresses, I hope to add more flavor to this side of my exchange experience. I am actually thinking of holding a fundraiser for a pet shelter at Parker soon which would also be amazing cultural experience! (*wink* for the Parker people). And I am also very very very very excited for IEW which is the International Education Week from November 10-18th, during which time I'll be doing presentations all over the school.
Right now, as I sip slowly through my delicious Chiquita Banana smoothie, I am thinking of all the amazing things that have happened over the past weeks which include (but are not limited to) THE COUNTY FAIR (I wish they had it everyday!), The Spirit Week, The AFS Retreat (Although I missed my Homecoming dance, I guess that was a right decision to make because the retreat was awesome and now I am SOOO excited for prom!), Samosa Chat @ The Indian Grill, Mathew Postlewaite's mind blowing Mascotance, and yea!!! THE FALL PLAY REHEARSALS!!! Which are just CRAZYYYYYYYYY!! And I mean it...literally! They are super super fun and I can't tell you how excited I am for the show itself! Other fun stuff include Meeting of the Minds (and the hilarious discussion) and yea the not-so-much-fun US History, Maths, Anatomy and Latin quizzes! Holy Goat! That reminds me, I have a homework to complete! As much as I would love to keep adding to this post I think this is long (and intellectually enlightening) enough. So until later!! Wish me luck for IEW!!!
