Looking back at myself six weeks ago, I see a person who was confused, worried and very scared of what I was about to encounter. Blogging, I wondered, what exactly will we be doing? Am I going to cope with this highly technical course and will I participate fully and not feel intimidated by this course which required technical knowledge in its application? These are some of the questions that bothered and unsettled me every time I thought of the course that awaited me during the start of the forth term. But six weeks later, I seem to have come up with the necessary answers to address the above questions. I look at the two contrasting characteristics which belong to me and feel sorry for the ignorant me but at the same time, I am proud of the transformation that took place in trying to replace that ignorant person of six weeks ago.
Before starting the course on blogging, I only knew the basic information about blogs that include that, a blog was a forum where people expressed themselves through article writing. It sounds surprising but this is the bulk of information I knew about blogs. How they set up the blogs in the first place was a puzzle I had to figure out during the time we started setting up our b logs in the Journalism class. I had never really gotten around to asking people who have better technical knowledge about computers how this could be done but thanks to the course, I now know how one sets up maintains and “beautify” a blog once one sets up this forum for their opinions and views.
After the technical aspect had been handled, I started to feel more at ease as I discovered that, blogging is not as difficult and challenging as I thought to be. Application of the theory in the practical sense was quite fun and I became so much fascinated by the numerous search engines we were introduced to such as comeeko. For someone who did not have so much knowledge of such services being available on the internet, it opened a new horizon for me and I began to regard the computer as a new friend and not an enemy in any way. I started to realise that, there was so much I could perform over the internet instead of only relying on the machine for typing assignments and constantly checking my yahoo mail. The mundane routine was replaced by a new and fascinating hobby which was in every sense academic. The initial fear was replaced by curiosity of how all the stuff our lecturers told us could be applied in the practical sense.
Over this period, I have learnt to be more patient in everything I do especially anything to do with the academic issues. Working in groups during this project has not always been smooth and easy. It has been tough when I look at how my other group members have been reluctant to cooperate for some of the activities we have had to do. I have learnt to be patient and at the same time I have been taught endurance. At one point, Amy and I had to leave the Jacaranda Laboratory after ten in the evening because we had to finish the photo comic assignment that was due at exactly five minutes before midnight. This was unusual for me as I stay in digs. Usually, by eight o’clock I am at home and in most cases will be preparing my evening meal but on this night, I had to make a sacrifice because my academic work had to come first. We had to meet a deadline and failure to do so would have cost us a lot of marks which were important in maintaining our academic record and performance. I have learnt to go the extra mile in ensuring that, the academic house is in perfect order. The assignments we have had to do this term have really encouraged us to work in groups and allocate each other duties. In a way, this has instilled a sense of organisation in me as an individual because on several occasions my group was disorganised but we finally put our act together in the end and produced our work in time for submission. This developed characteristic is of great help considering the fact that, success in the co-operate world requires working as a team on many occasions. I have had to learn my lesson the hard way but all of it was worth the effort.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Being new does not mean I am stupid.
By Chips.
Who ever came up with Orientation Week for first year students made a very great suggestion to ease the life of new comers. After missing one earlier this year I have first hand experience on how you get to learn the hard way and the price you pay for not getting to Rhodes in time for the O- week.
It’s a rather long story for me to explain to you why I ended up getting here after O-week. The only thing I can tell you is that, being new is no fun at all especially if you come across people who make you feel that you are a novice. After completing my academic registration at Eden Groove, I had to go to each department I had registered for to confirm my name there. This I concluded was not a problem, the crisis only stemmed from the fact that, I had not already familiarised myself with the campus and department locations. I had to gather courage to ask around where the English department, the Journalism department and also the History Department were located. I was impressed by the amount of patience people expressed when I had to explain to them on at least twice that I had not really understood the directions they had offered. I must admit, at that time I was a bit confused about everything because the feeling of being new was very overwhelming to me.
I must say, I was offended by the attitude one guy showed when I had politely asked him to direct me to the Main Library. Before he even attempted to answer, he burst out into laughter and then asked me if I was new on campus because in his view no one did not know where the “embassy” was located. He referred to the library as an embassy because I later on discovered that it is one place where a lot of people usually meet. When I think back on that encounter, I feel like laughing because, the truth of the matter was that, I did not know where the library was seriously. I felt so out of place and blamed my family for the delay that prevented me from getting here in time for the orientation. I began to ask myself why people never miss an opportunity to make some one out of place. The worst part of this whole encounter is that, of all the people who helped me, I do not seem to remember them very well but this one guy I never forgot. Every time I see him on campus, I am reminded of this embarrassing moment on my first day at university institution.
I am not trying to give a moral teaching to students in any way but all I am trying to get across is that, being new does not mean that someone is stupid and very dumb. I find it appropriate to keep quiet when some one asks a genuine question on something the are new at rather than making un necessary comments that can offend people. Why people want to prove that they have been around for longer that you, I do not know. People try by all means to prove to others that you are inferior in position as compared to them for no reason. What would this guy have lost if he had only given me the directions I had asked for or even told me that he did not know without making feel like I was the greatest fool that had been offered to study at such a high class university?
Who ever came up with Orientation Week for first year students made a very great suggestion to ease the life of new comers. After missing one earlier this year I have first hand experience on how you get to learn the hard way and the price you pay for not getting to Rhodes in time for the O- week.
It’s a rather long story for me to explain to you why I ended up getting here after O-week. The only thing I can tell you is that, being new is no fun at all especially if you come across people who make you feel that you are a novice. After completing my academic registration at Eden Groove, I had to go to each department I had registered for to confirm my name there. This I concluded was not a problem, the crisis only stemmed from the fact that, I had not already familiarised myself with the campus and department locations. I had to gather courage to ask around where the English department, the Journalism department and also the History Department were located. I was impressed by the amount of patience people expressed when I had to explain to them on at least twice that I had not really understood the directions they had offered. I must admit, at that time I was a bit confused about everything because the feeling of being new was very overwhelming to me.
I must say, I was offended by the attitude one guy showed when I had politely asked him to direct me to the Main Library. Before he even attempted to answer, he burst out into laughter and then asked me if I was new on campus because in his view no one did not know where the “embassy” was located. He referred to the library as an embassy because I later on discovered that it is one place where a lot of people usually meet. When I think back on that encounter, I feel like laughing because, the truth of the matter was that, I did not know where the library was seriously. I felt so out of place and blamed my family for the delay that prevented me from getting here in time for the orientation. I began to ask myself why people never miss an opportunity to make some one out of place. The worst part of this whole encounter is that, of all the people who helped me, I do not seem to remember them very well but this one guy I never forgot. Every time I see him on campus, I am reminded of this embarrassing moment on my first day at university institution.
I am not trying to give a moral teaching to students in any way but all I am trying to get across is that, being new does not mean that someone is stupid and very dumb. I find it appropriate to keep quiet when some one asks a genuine question on something the are new at rather than making un necessary comments that can offend people. Why people want to prove that they have been around for longer that you, I do not know. People try by all means to prove to others that you are inferior in position as compared to them for no reason. What would this guy have lost if he had only given me the directions I had asked for or even told me that he did not know without making feel like I was the greatest fool that had been offered to study at such a high class university?
Friday, October 17, 2008
I found a fingernail in my juice.
By Amy Esterhuizen
It’s twelve o’ clock on Tuesday and I’m starving! I feel annoyed when I think that this was usually a favourite time of day, lunch time, when I got to eat a good meal that I’d been looking forward to. I drag myself to the Jan Smuts Dining Hall. Walking up the stairs I can already smell the ‘fish in batter’ and hold my breath a little. Shouting, banging of trays and an indescribable stench all make for the atmosphere. Once finally finding some cutlery, I get to the ‘chip machine’, “Halaal fast!” one of the catering staff shouts. Thank God, if it was default I don’t know what I would do. My friend in front of me receives her plate of ‘fish in batter’ and says with a disgusted look on her face, “You’re so lucky.” The catering staff looks blankly at me, “uh Halaal fast food,” I say. She gives me a suspicious glance, as if I’m trying to cheat the ‘default’ system, and slaps a greasy chicken pizza along with some even greasier chips on my plate. I take the plate from her before she throws it down on the counter. “Wow, whatever happened to a ‘friendly and hospitable environment’,” I mumble to myself. My friend calls me over to the free seats she has just discovered, I walk over and it down. “Sick!” Someone else’s left over chutney sticks to my arm. Looking down at my food, and the pool of old oil surrounding it I start to wonder if I am really going to eat this and make my way to the ‘salad bar’. Wilted lettuce is all that remains of the salad but I take some anyway, at least it’s not oily! “No, uh not again!” my friend looks at me and says, “What again?” “A worm in my salad again!” I exclaim. At this point we have both lost our appetite and have been so put off by the dining hall that we decide to leave and eat ‘vending machine food’ instead.
The dining hall is usually not a student’s favourite place and we all know that the food will never be as it was at home. Cooking in bulk and often without much interest obviously makes food less appealing, as quantity becomes more important than quality. Students have come to accept this. But the nutritional value of meals, hygiene and hospitable service that the Catering Services at Rhodes University promises is often questionable.
Rhodes University’s Catering Services allows students to choose from eight options for each meal. The meals range from fast food to ‘health platter’ and it is the student’s responsibility to make the choice between the pie and chips or the chicken salad. Even though there are these options and some may be healthier than others, the overall nutritional value and quality of the food leaves much to be desired. In most meals one will find an abundance of carbohydrates and copious amounts of oil, for example the ‘hake in batter’, which consists of deep fried chips, oily fried fish in a thick layer of batter and vegetables that have been overcooked. As for health platter, I would like know how a few strips of chicken smothered in mayonnaise on a thin bed of lettuce or an oily saucy stir-fried mixture is considered healthy. The meals at the dining halls claim to be ‘well-balanced’, but when receiving ‘Southern Fried Chicken’ with mash and no vegetables, you start to question this claim. No wonder so many first years fall victim to ‘first year spread’! The food they are receiving is usually extremely fattening or just tastes like fish oil. This is why many students supplement their diet with junk food from the vending machine or bread and butter. As Jen, another first year student explains on her blog, “‘toast’ is not just a cooked piece of bread, it becomes a social dining hall activity and filler when res food disappoints (so in other words you eat it every day).” And she goes on to explain how this will lead to weight gain.
The hygiene in the dinning hall is often something most students do not like to talk about, and those who have done community service in the kitchen often stop going to the dinning hall for a week or two in order to mentally prepare themselves for their return. I personally have found a fingernail in my juice, many worms in my salad and hair in my food. The service in every dining hall differs, but from my experience I definitely have not been treated with “respect and friendship”. I have been accused of lying about my meal booking and received rude responses when asking for more salad, knives, plates and bread (which seem to run out so often).
I understand that the dining hall can not always run perfectly and that the food will not always be desirable, but when the problem persists and nothing is done to improve the situation, even after continuous complaints form many students, I start to wonder how much the University actually cares about the services us students receive. Food is an important part of life. The cost of residence is expensive, and many students would like to see an improvement in the dining hall. Because of the state of some of the dining halls, much food is wasted and this is very unfortunate considering that people just a few kilometres away in poorer areas of Grahamstown struggle to feed themselves everyday. I just hope that the University and Catering Services will start to listen to students complaints and make a change.
It’s twelve o’ clock on Tuesday and I’m starving! I feel annoyed when I think that this was usually a favourite time of day, lunch time, when I got to eat a good meal that I’d been looking forward to. I drag myself to the Jan Smuts Dining Hall. Walking up the stairs I can already smell the ‘fish in batter’ and hold my breath a little. Shouting, banging of trays and an indescribable stench all make for the atmosphere. Once finally finding some cutlery, I get to the ‘chip machine’, “Halaal fast!” one of the catering staff shouts. Thank God, if it was default I don’t know what I would do. My friend in front of me receives her plate of ‘fish in batter’ and says with a disgusted look on her face, “You’re so lucky.” The catering staff looks blankly at me, “uh Halaal fast food,” I say. She gives me a suspicious glance, as if I’m trying to cheat the ‘default’ system, and slaps a greasy chicken pizza along with some even greasier chips on my plate. I take the plate from her before she throws it down on the counter. “Wow, whatever happened to a ‘friendly and hospitable environment’,” I mumble to myself. My friend calls me over to the free seats she has just discovered, I walk over and it down. “Sick!” Someone else’s left over chutney sticks to my arm. Looking down at my food, and the pool of old oil surrounding it I start to wonder if I am really going to eat this and make my way to the ‘salad bar’. Wilted lettuce is all that remains of the salad but I take some anyway, at least it’s not oily! “No, uh not again!” my friend looks at me and says, “What again?” “A worm in my salad again!” I exclaim. At this point we have both lost our appetite and have been so put off by the dining hall that we decide to leave and eat ‘vending machine food’ instead.
The dining hall is usually not a student’s favourite place and we all know that the food will never be as it was at home. Cooking in bulk and often without much interest obviously makes food less appealing, as quantity becomes more important than quality. Students have come to accept this. But the nutritional value of meals, hygiene and hospitable service that the Catering Services at Rhodes University promises is often questionable.
Rhodes University’s Catering Services allows students to choose from eight options for each meal. The meals range from fast food to ‘health platter’ and it is the student’s responsibility to make the choice between the pie and chips or the chicken salad. Even though there are these options and some may be healthier than others, the overall nutritional value and quality of the food leaves much to be desired. In most meals one will find an abundance of carbohydrates and copious amounts of oil, for example the ‘hake in batter’, which consists of deep fried chips, oily fried fish in a thick layer of batter and vegetables that have been overcooked. As for health platter, I would like know how a few strips of chicken smothered in mayonnaise on a thin bed of lettuce or an oily saucy stir-fried mixture is considered healthy. The meals at the dining halls claim to be ‘well-balanced’, but when receiving ‘Southern Fried Chicken’ with mash and no vegetables, you start to question this claim. No wonder so many first years fall victim to ‘first year spread’! The food they are receiving is usually extremely fattening or just tastes like fish oil. This is why many students supplement their diet with junk food from the vending machine or bread and butter. As Jen, another first year student explains on her blog, “‘toast’ is not just a cooked piece of bread, it becomes a social dining hall activity and filler when res food disappoints (so in other words you eat it every day).” And she goes on to explain how this will lead to weight gain.
The hygiene in the dinning hall is often something most students do not like to talk about, and those who have done community service in the kitchen often stop going to the dinning hall for a week or two in order to mentally prepare themselves for their return. I personally have found a fingernail in my juice, many worms in my salad and hair in my food. The service in every dining hall differs, but from my experience I definitely have not been treated with “respect and friendship”. I have been accused of lying about my meal booking and received rude responses when asking for more salad, knives, plates and bread (which seem to run out so often).
I understand that the dining hall can not always run perfectly and that the food will not always be desirable, but when the problem persists and nothing is done to improve the situation, even after continuous complaints form many students, I start to wonder how much the University actually cares about the services us students receive. Food is an important part of life. The cost of residence is expensive, and many students would like to see an improvement in the dining hall. Because of the state of some of the dining halls, much food is wasted and this is very unfortunate considering that people just a few kilometres away in poorer areas of Grahamstown struggle to feed themselves everyday. I just hope that the University and Catering Services will start to listen to students complaints and make a change.
A Year in Words
Simon Balmuth
“I’m feeling rough; I’m feeling raw in the prime of my life”.
-A time to pretend, MGMT.
The end of the year approaches like some dark shadow cast by the setting sun, bringing with it the ominous presence of exams. As I sit above this vast chasm, I feel an underlying urge to reflect. To look back on a year, which has played host to a constant battering of the senses, through various avenues. Bottle after bottle, night after night, too comfortably numb to appreciate the enormity of it all.
I feel the year has only just begun, but here I stand in the twilight of my initial university expedition. As time has lurched on at it’s relentless pace, waiting for no man, I have lost myself in the depths of independence. Not without direction but treading a precarious road without the utmost certainty. The existence of the unknown is refreshing in the sense that it provides an alternative to the constraints of structure, which have governed life from the outset. University provides an outlet, a response to the years of the conformity of schooling.
A thrill ride, a theme park, this year has been about moving from one high to another. Chasing pleasure, the inexplicable dilation of the pupils, brief in it’s enjoyment but the motive behind hours of action. The year has been constructed out of moments not days, brief fleeting moments over in the blink of an eye. On a journey? Where do I get off? where do you get off? more importantly do we ever get off at all?. If these days are the first of the rest of your life, is this a sign of the madness to come? The train rumbles on while people stop and stare, some get off, few stay while my finger hovers precariously above the self destruct button.
Amongst this backdrop of intoxicating madness, one strives to better oneself through the pursuit of knowledge. The sum total of my academic endeavors, reams of paper countless pages of words each as convincing as the last. Late nights spent endlessly battering the keyboard seeking to construct something of depth, of purpose, something to stand up and be accounted for. As I rush from one task to the next, climbing an obstacle without sign of relief. This is what is to be a student, to truly study, a process which many go through but few question. It is accepted as a norm of society in order to better ourselves we study, to fill our heads with information ordained by a higher set of intellectuals. We accept this as a way of life a sacrifice to enter a higher set, the so called upper reaches of mankind. It was the path taken by generations before us, a well trodden one with a variety of destinations.
So where has the year gone? The time has been filtered into a variation of fields. From enlightenment to travesty, at times so disgustingly self righteous waiting for a slap in the face that never comes. 2008 has been a year for words. These are my words and this is my year.
“I’m feeling rough; I’m feeling raw in the prime of my life”.
-A time to pretend, MGMT.
The end of the year approaches like some dark shadow cast by the setting sun, bringing with it the ominous presence of exams. As I sit above this vast chasm, I feel an underlying urge to reflect. To look back on a year, which has played host to a constant battering of the senses, through various avenues. Bottle after bottle, night after night, too comfortably numb to appreciate the enormity of it all.
I feel the year has only just begun, but here I stand in the twilight of my initial university expedition. As time has lurched on at it’s relentless pace, waiting for no man, I have lost myself in the depths of independence. Not without direction but treading a precarious road without the utmost certainty. The existence of the unknown is refreshing in the sense that it provides an alternative to the constraints of structure, which have governed life from the outset. University provides an outlet, a response to the years of the conformity of schooling.
A thrill ride, a theme park, this year has been about moving from one high to another. Chasing pleasure, the inexplicable dilation of the pupils, brief in it’s enjoyment but the motive behind hours of action. The year has been constructed out of moments not days, brief fleeting moments over in the blink of an eye. On a journey? Where do I get off? where do you get off? more importantly do we ever get off at all?. If these days are the first of the rest of your life, is this a sign of the madness to come? The train rumbles on while people stop and stare, some get off, few stay while my finger hovers precariously above the self destruct button.
Amongst this backdrop of intoxicating madness, one strives to better oneself through the pursuit of knowledge. The sum total of my academic endeavors, reams of paper countless pages of words each as convincing as the last. Late nights spent endlessly battering the keyboard seeking to construct something of depth, of purpose, something to stand up and be accounted for. As I rush from one task to the next, climbing an obstacle without sign of relief. This is what is to be a student, to truly study, a process which many go through but few question. It is accepted as a norm of society in order to better ourselves we study, to fill our heads with information ordained by a higher set of intellectuals. We accept this as a way of life a sacrifice to enter a higher set, the so called upper reaches of mankind. It was the path taken by generations before us, a well trodden one with a variety of destinations.
So where has the year gone? The time has been filtered into a variation of fields. From enlightenment to travesty, at times so disgustingly self righteous waiting for a slap in the face that never comes. 2008 has been a year for words. These are my words and this is my year.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)