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March 13, 2005
Oh Yeom Al-Ahad
I realized that yesterday that while my weekend is ending (at around 7pm on Saturday night) all of my friend's weekends in America are just starting! This Sunday=Monday thing is for the birds. Actually, I'm just bitter today because I didn't want to go to Arabic class.
One of the most interesting lessons I am learning here lately has nothing to do with Jordanians, however. I am really amazed at the other students in my program. My area studies classes have basically become nap hour for them as they refuse to participate in any discussion that the teacher tries to have. The hours before and after class are spent whining about how bad the teacher is and how aweful class is. Instead of looking for the reading, they complain about how they don't have it and are too lazy to go to the library. Maybe Brandeis is unusual, but I have had to go to the library and share one copy of the book many times. I guess they have never been required to be active in their education. How they made it this far in college is beyond me, however, and I am quite disapointed that the students here aren't excited about being here. I had assumed that if you took the risk in coming to Jordan then you were excited about the Middle East but I think I assumed wrong.
Anyways, all I can do is keep doing the reading and hoping that the teacher notices that someone in class is prepared. . .
Posted by rcollins at March 13, 2005 9:33 AM
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Comments
Don't worry, the teacher always notices. Besides, it doesn't really matter what your grade is anyway because it'll never become part of your GPA :)
It's too bad your friends aren't participating. Maybe they're not excited about being there because they're used to the excitement hitting them in the face. Were they excited about the trips that you took? Are they ever excited about anything?? hmmm...
And it might feel weird not because these people are out of the ordinary, but because it's a microcosm of a university. I could imagine the same rough proportions of whiny people at Brandeis... it's just awkward for you because the group of people you hang with that isn't whiny is much smaller than you're used to :) oh well, just a theory.
Posted by: Karl at March 14, 2005 9:42 PM