In Italia!

Hey y'all! I'm in Bella Italia! My plane landed in Nice (France) yesterday at 6:30am my time (12:30am Montreal time). I ate an "American breakfast" (3 eggs sunny side up cooked on ham) at a cafe at hopped on the 9:30am train to Ventimiglia (Italy). From there, I got on the 10:30ish am train to Milan. I was on the train a good 4.5hrs: my ass hurt by the end of my ride! From Milan Central Station, I bought a 48hrs Urban Metro pass and took the underground to my hotel for the night. What a nice placed! It was 3 stars, small but very comfortable and clean. Cleaner than some 3.5 or 4 star hotels I've stayed in. The woman at the reception was very nice in answering my 7000000000000 questions about where to find certain things: a phone shop, a supermarket, a good and cheap restaurant (I ended up at McDonald's because I couldn't find it and was mega hungry)... I tried really hard to stay up so that I wouldn't be too jet-lagged today: it didn't really work. I conked out at 9:30ish... and woke up at 5am.

After tossing and turning and drifting in and out of sleep until 9am, I got up, showered, shoved everything from my carry-on into my suitcase and checked out for 11:30am. I hopped back on the underground, back to Milan Central Station to store my luggage... and had to divide my luggage and my carry-on once more (because everything together was more than 20kg which was the storing luggage max weight). I was meeting my camp director at the train station at 2:50pm, so back on the underground I went to kill some time.

Last year, I spent a weekend in Milan with some fellow tutors. One of the tutors' host moms told us about Luini, a hole in the wall restaurant near the Duomo in Milan. We went, we ate, we were happy. I decided to go back this year: why not? It was just as good this time around! I also got some postcards (despite the Post Canada strike (I meant lockout. My dad asked me to correct this.), haha) and some lemon granite (like an Italian slushy). Effing yum, by the way.

At 2:30, I headed back to the train station, picked up my luggage, shoved my carry-on back in my suitcase and headed up to meet my camp director. After a minor miscommunication, she found me and I met the 5 other tutors (3 camp from a camp last week and 2 are straight out of orientation) and my host mom. She's so nice.

I'm staying in a gated community 10mins south of Milan. She works in HR for a telecommunications company. Her husband is a physiotherapist. Both speak English very well. They have 2 kids: and 8 year old girl (who is going to the camp) and a 13 year old boy (who went to camp last year but is not going this year). The little girl is really shy and is always whispering, asking her mom what we're saying. The boy asked me to correct his English homework (yep, they have summer homework) and was very proud of himself when I said it looked good. He's trying to practice his English with me.

Alright, so it's almost 1am here. We just finished watching a movie as a family (Apocalypto!!) and I'm exhausted. Good night!

Let's Face It. English Is a Stupid Language

I just wanted to share a poem about the English language:

Let's Face It. English Is a Stupid Language

There is no egg in the eggplant,
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England,
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted, but if we examine its paradoxes we find that:
Quicksand takes you down slowly,
Boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing?
If the plural of tooth is teeth,
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth?
If the teacher taught,
Why hasn't the preacher praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
What the heck does a humanitarian eat?
Why do people recite at a play,
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways?
How can the weather be as hot as hell on one day
And as cold as hell on another?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language where a house can burn up as it burns down,
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers,
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all.)

That is why:
When the stars are out they are visible,
But when the lights are out they are invisible.
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts,
But when I wind up this poem
It ends.

http://www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/esl.htm

School

I finished my English essay. I think I'll get a B or a B+. I'm okay with that.

I'm finishing my Linguistics research paper. I'm hoping for a B. I need to do well on this and the final in order to pass the class. Fuck.

I have an English exam on Thurs at 9am. Then a Chem exam on Friday at 6pm. Then the Linguistics exam on Monday at 2pm. Then I'm done!

I'll blog more then...

Getting into the analytical frame of mind

I. Hate. This. Essay.

Is this analytical enough? I'm trying not to just re-tell the story. Also, do you think I need to find a source, or am I saving my ass by saying "it is generally believed?"

During the Jupiter Mission section of the film, man loses control over the very tools put in place to assure the success of the mission and the safe keeping of the astronauts. By having this essential piece of technology fail and endanger both the mission and the inhabitants of the space station, killing most of them in fact, Kubrick suggests that perhaps our society’s dependence on complicated tools is dangerous. Kubrick’s view may not have been that far off. In 1999, there was a huge scare when the media publicized the possibility of total failure of all computer systems when the year changed from 99 to 00. Some of the bigger conspiracy theorists believed that this glitch would cause banks to shut down and planes to fall out of the sky. We can assume that before this time, most of the general population did not think their lives were so dependent on technology. Much like Kubrick’s protagonist Dave Bowman did not know how to react upon learning of HAL’s fallibility, the general public panicked when confronted with the possibility that their technological tools might fail.

I need your help

MY AWESOME ESSAY TOPIC WAS ACCEPTED!!!!! WOOO!!!!! I'm so excited, because I know that now, I can write and awesome essay. The thing is, I'm insecure and I would LOVE some feedback (obviously, not on the whole thing, but on parts like the intro and conclusion).

So here's my intro:

Science fiction films often try to convey either a vision of the future or a “what if” idea in the present. Both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, directed by Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg respectively, try to transmit a powerful message through their stunning cinematography, direction, writing and soundtrack. As each film progresses, the main protagonists seem to lose their ability to use tools. In Kubrick’s film, the characters in space must relearn to use basic tools: using the toilet, for example. Dave must also regain control over HAL, a tool used to assure the mission’s success. Roy, the protagonist of Spielberg’s film, on the other hand, loses his language and communication tools: his ability to express and explain his thoughts and feelings. Both characters, however, are rewarded in the end. Dave learns the secret of life from the monolith and becomes the Star Child, an evolved being independent from machinery. Roy is chosen to be an explorer and ambassador of sorts and is welcomed into a society that uses basic sound as a form of communication. Both these characters were chosen by an alien society to reach the next step in human evolution which seems to be a throwback to the first stages of the human race: using fewer, simpler tools.

What do you think? Is my thesis clear? Is the wording clear? Any feedback would be fantastic and, possibly, rewarded :P

Writer's Block SUCKS!

I have to write an 7-8 page English essay for Friday. It wouldn't be so bad if I had a clear idea about what I wanted to write. As of right now, I have one AWESOME thesis that's not part of the assigned topics (and I missed the approval deadline so I'm waiting to see if the TA will make an exception for me) and one mediocre thesis (that's part of the assigned topics). I'm just not sure how to go about it. I'm analyzing. comparing and contrasting two films: 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I won't bore you with the details of my analysis, just know that it will either be an epic win or an epic fail. Either way, right now, it's an epic nothing.

To try to get me in the mood, in terms of writing, I have my iTunes on shuffle. My music collection is pretty eclectic: it always has. Now, with the internet and the fact that new bands and artists are putting their own music out there, I feel like I can't be a proper music fan UNLESS I have such diverse tastes and interests. Not only that, but I LOVE discovering new (to me) music! Gord bless the interwebs, as I would be listening to plain and boring music without it.

Well, I guess I should try writing some more...