Friday Round-Up

Happy Birthday to me! I turned 24 on the 24th, yesterday:) Unfortunately, my plans to go home were foiled, but I got to spend the evening with my boyfriend and tonight I'm going to dinner with his family to celebrate. Not a bad ending after all:)

Celebrities who share my birthday: 

Kelly Clarkson, Barbara Streisand, Cedric the Entertainer, Shirley MacLaine

Interesting things in history on this day:

1184 BC - The Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse
1792 - "La Marseillaise" composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle
1865 - Fire alarm & police telegraph system put into operation (SF)
1907 - Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened.
1916 - Easter rebellion of Irish against British occupation begins
1950 - "Peter Pan" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 320 performances
1950 - Pres Harry Truman denies there are communists in US government
1969 - Paul McCartney says there is no truth to rumors he is dead
1989 - Massachusetts declares today "New Kids on the Block Day"

This week on Andrea's blog, I wrote a response to her post on how to avoid regretting a study abroad experience. I've had a lot of problems in my time here, but I would never say that I regretted it.

I haven't put all of these on insta yet, but these are my favorite shots of my new favorite place in Geneva:) Jardin Botaniques- The Botanical Gardens

View of one of their green houses from a café terrace

Ducks out in the open!

My fav flowers

What's so interesting under there, guys?

Mystical garden

The most beautiful spot

Splashy-Splash!

There is nobility in the struggle, you don't have to win. 

Sharon Pollock

This seems to be appropriate for this week's writing and events:) It's important to remember that despite problems, there's always a reason to continue- which is what has gotten me this far. Even if I fail, at least I can say I tried.

Conversations sur la langue française- I'm reading this one for class, supposedly in preparation for the final exam, and it's simply four conversations on language between a journalist and his old linguistics teacher. It's both infinitely boring and linguistically interesting at the same time. I think a big reason why I'm bored is because the "teacher" is so pompous. But I'm learning stuff, so hey.

Happy World Book Day!

I've only just made the discovery about World Book Day and I think it's super cool, so I'd like to share it with you, along with other really awesome booky organizations.

In 1995, UNESCO named April 23 World Book and Copyright Day to encourage reading around the world and in honor of literature greats like Shakespeare (Happy Birthday! ...And Deathday! :/) and Cervantes.

To share in UNESCO's fervor, World Book Night was started in the UK to encourage adults to read, as statistics show that 35% of people in the UK don't read regularly. They print out their own copies of 20 carefully selected books targeted to reignite reading in adults across the UK, and soon across the world, and they get volunteers to share those books with the people who fall into that statistic.

For adults in the UK, there is also Quick Reads, which has the same purpose as World Book Night, but with a constant outreach and their own hand-picked easy-read books.

And there's Ireland's National Adult Literacy Agency, promoting literacy by reading and writing.

There was even a commission done in the UK, finished in December 2013, with evidence and final recommendations to improve literacy rates in order to improve employability. It was partnered with the National Literacy Trust, which is an enormous organization promoting literacy in the UK.

But wait! Let's not forget that the US has astounding numbers for illiteracy, too. However, it's hard to find lots of strong programs in the US like the UK has. World Book Night is now expanding to the US, thankfully. But also...

American Library Association to the rescue! Of course, this national organization has support in spades for literacy in the US. They have their own programs for reaching out to adults, and particular support to English-learning adults both through their own efforts and other partners.

However, it looks like the last literacy polls in the US were completed in 2003, so they're in desperate need of updating. I can't wait to see how programs will expand in the States, and I hope awareness levels are raised like they are being raised in the UK!

Catch the fever and pick up a book today! Happy Reading!

Link Love

I don't keep a public list of blogs that I follow on my blog, so I thought I would share with you the blogs I love to read regularly! There are lots of blogs I check out in my free time, but these are the blogs I spend the most time reading, as they have gained my regular support with their unique rhythm.

I love Today's Letters because they are so uplifting and they have such an interesting way of life. This couple raises their own chickens and bees, builds their own furniture, takes fishing and camping trips, and much more. They write letters to each other and others to express wonder and thanks, and they share how they keep their marriage strong. The blog posts are short and sweet, so it's always a little one-minute joy when I receive one in my inbox.

Lil Blue Boo is lots of fun because she talks about absolutely everything. Up until her currently ongoing move, she had her own clothing business for girls, and she still has her own "Choose Joy" line and patterns/templates for everything, so her blog is primarily for DIY. But she also posts about travels, childhood memories, stories of faith, and fun finds. With the new changes going on for her, she's sure to have some amazing things to share, and she knows how to tell a good story.

Don't worry- I'm not thinking of my own children for years to come! But I love this blog because Ms. Chicken (aka Amy Morrison) is absolutely hilarious. It doesn't matter what she's writing about, she makes it funny. And hey, if I'm learning things I can use in the future, why not? (btw, I feel bad for all mothers who were pregnant before the last few years, because there are some crazy amazing sites and apps for new mothers now)

Fluent in 3 Months, by the quirky Benny the Irish Polyglot, is my go-to source for language-learning tips and motivation. He has a vast knowledge of languages and countries, and of course, friends around the world who also weigh in with interesting advice. If you have a question about learning languages, you can be sure he's covered it, or you can email and ask him to!

I only recently learned about Twenty in Paris, and I started guest blogging for her at the same time! Andrea has priceless advice for young people traveling abroad, and she has great connections with guest bloggers and interviewees to make this site a rich resource for study abroad opinion. This was exactly what I could have used before going abroad myself, so her efforts are definitely in need.

Marie was a relatively unknown blogger writing about her family and her faith for her friends, but her blog exploded in popularity when she and her daughters were present during the Aurora shooting in 2012. She wrote a post about why she still thought God was a merciful God even when she feared for her and her daughters' lives in that theatre, and it naturally got an enormous response from thousands upon thousands of people. I love her because she always remains brutally honest about herself, and she always tries to be optimistic, helped by her faith.

Learning a "man-made" language: toki pona

In one of my classes, we're learning a language created in 2001 by Sonja Elen Kisa called "toki pona" as a way to reflect back on French in the process. Toki Pona is a minimalist language, in that it has only 123 words. The question then, is whether this small vocabulary makes the language easier and therefore more effective, or if its lack of vocabulary prevents people from communicating specific ideas. Because one word can contain a half a dozen meanings (like how the word "moku" means meal, food, eat, drink, swallow, and suck), lots of ideas have to be inferred based on context.

I had an assignment due on Sunday in which I had to write some phrases in Toki Pona, and I decided to also try to write a simple poem. So, I thought I would share it with you:) First in Toki Pona, next in French, then English.

Update: Someone pointed out in the comments that I forgot an important piece of grammar, and another suggested a revision for the last line, so I hope I have now correctly fixed it!

kala jelo lili

kala jelo lili li kama tawa selo

ona li olin e mun

akasi loje li oko e kala

olin li pona ala tawa ona

kala jelo lili li jo kasi

ona li pana kasi tawa mun

akasi lojo li kipisi sin uta kiwin ona

ona li pana uta kiwin tawa kala

akasi lojo li kama tawa selo

ona li open uta ona

ona li oko e mun

suno walo mun li pali ona oko ala

kala jelo lili li kama sona waso

waso li jo e kala

kala li pilin uta tawa mun. mu !

kala waso li kama lon

Le petit poisson jaune

le petit poisson jaune vient à la surface

il aime la lune

le monstre rouge regarde le poisson

il n’aime pas l’amour

le petit poisson jaune prend une algue

il la donnera à la lune

le monstre rouge taille ses dents

il les donnera au poisson

le monstre rouge vient à la surface

il ouvre sa bouche

il voit la lune

la lumiere de la lune lui aveugle

le petit poisson jaune recontre un oiseau

le oiseau lui prend

le poisson embrasse la lune- muah !

le poisson volant est née

The Little Yellow Fish

the little yellow fish comes to the surface

he loves the moon

the red monster watches the fish

he doesn't like love

the little yellow fish takes a piece of seaweed

he will give it to the moon

the red monster sharpens his teeth

he will give them to the fish

the red monster comes to the surface

he opens his mouth

he sees the moon

the light of the moon blinds him

the little yellow fish meets a bird

the bird takes him

the fish kisses the moon- muah!

the flying fish is born

Friday Round-Up

It's time for a week off! I was planning to go home for Easter and my birthday, but as I'm still waiting for my permit, I simply can't return if I leave. Oh well. I'm going to use this week to try to catch up on things I haven't had the time to do. Personal spring cleaning:) What do you do for spring cleaning?

Happy Easter!

This week on Andrea's blog, I shared my experiences applying for my past French and current Swiss visas and residency permits. What a hassle!

The helpful thought for which you look 

Is written somewhere in a book. 

Edward Gorey

This one was ironic for me because I came across it just as I was trying to decide what to blog about for the week. I guess it kind of ended up being true because I compared my visa and permit experience to Andrea's written about in her book. But I think this quote is generally good for everything because book are amazing and the answer to life. :)

Divergent- I started this one yesterday and I'm already almost done! It's definitely a quick read, and I can't wait to go see the movie.

Inferno- I still go back and forth between this being a favorite and a least favorite, which I suppose is understandable considering the content. I think I'll opt for a shorter nonfiction for war books in the future, no matter how interesting they can be at times.

Ideas on Language

Last week, we had a guest professor in one of my classes, and he talked about some interesting linguistic concepts that I thought would be interesting to share and get some feedback from y’all.

How Children Learn Language

It’s commonly accepted that children learn the basics of language between the ages of 0 and 7. Whether or not this impacts the ability to acquire additional languages after this age is a hot topic right now, but for this class, the professor actually talked about it in more basic terms. Taking the example of the rare cases of “savage” children, who are somehow left in the wilderness and survive on their own, only to be found later and attempt to be integrated into society. These children never fully adapt the ability to speak as the rest of us do, because they didn’t learn how to speak within that first seven-year period of their lives. That is to say, that what differentiates humans’ ability to speak from animals is not the presence of certain organs, but the knowledge of how to manipulate those organs and respiration in order to form such distinct sounds as we have in our culturally and societally-made languages. Therefore, a child growing up away from civilization can only learn to understand certain basic ideas from language and usually not speak it, because they missed the essential period needed to learn how to physically talk. Going along with that is the idea that if one cannot talk, one cannot think, which is definitely debatable. The idea is that if you don’t have knowledge of language in order to conceptualize specific ideas, you simply cannot think them. All of our memories are based on things and events that are associated with words, and therefore language can’t be separated from basic thought. But whether or not this applies to such innate things as survival skills and emotions is difficult to understand.

Language and Borders

Even though we usually think of identities being “one nation, one people, one language,” with some exceptions of countries having multiple languages, it’s often forgotten that language doesn’t follow borders, and so personal identities are mixed for those who live in border regions. On one hand, French is the main language for France, but is also a main language of bordering Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, where each country manipulates the language slightly differently. But also, people in France on the border of Germany may speak primarily German rather than French despite the fact that their address is in France, and so their cultural identity could be shifted more towards German culture than French culture. As this goes for every border region, it’s then easy to understand border disputes, not based on politics, but on language and culture identity.

Oral vs. Written Language

Contrary to popular belief, spoken language is not a “bad” version of written language. Each language actually has two “codes”: spoken and written. Each has its own grammar and vocabulary, and its own logic and context for use. This brings up the argument of whether or not some people "speak poorly" or not; however, I think the answer is that bad education is always bad education, whereas even educated individuals speak differently than they write.

Language Associations When Learning

A lot of teaching methods assert that when learning an additional language, you have to completely put aside all knowledge of your primary language so as to not have unnecessary confusions or make mistakes based on your mother tongue. However, it’s really the opposite that is true. It’s useful to make connections and associations when learning a new language because it’s not an accident that they have linguistic ties. Learning an additional language and noting both similarities and differences between it and your primary language actually reinforces both languages, and not just the new one. You learn things you inherently knew but didn’t fully understand about your mother tongue when you learn a new language. These associations are especially important if both languages are in the same language family. For example, knowing French will help enormously in learning Spanish, Portuguese, Italien, etc. The recognition of differences can be used as a learning advantage!

English as a Language Bridge

English is technically a Germanic language, but because of the intertwined history of Europe, English has an enormous amount of borrowed vocabulary from French. There is so much similarity, therefore, with Romance languages, that English is a language bridge between Germanic and Romance languages, which can facilitate learning. Being a German speaker, one could learn English and then more easily pass on to French and other Romance languages, and vice versa. Or with English as a base, both language families can be entered with a lot of common ground already placed. However, this exceptional tool of English as a language bridge is not necessarily used as often as it could be because of socio-political implications.

Taking the example of the section of Switzerland that speaks French as a first language, Suisse Romande, they learn first German as a foreign language and then start English two years later. For one thing, it’s necessary to learn German simply because the majority of Switzerland speaks Swiss-German and it’s therefore important on a national level. But they also learn German rather than English first, despite English being a bridge, because of the psychological implications it has. Because of English’s role as the lingua franca of today, where it’s used as a common language around the world, if a child were to learn the lingua franca of the world as a second language, he may not be motivated to learn any languages past his primary tongue and English. Because if you have the primary language you speak in your region and a language to communicate with others, where’s the need to learn your neighbor’s language? But Europe is not interested in being so close-minded. Europe encourages plurilingualism- speaking multiple languages- in all terms of culture, politics, intellectuality, etc. Therefore, in this example, German is taught primarily before English in order to psychologically encourage children to be more open to other languages and cultures.

I have found all of these subjects to be very interesting, and I would love to share in some discussion with you on them! Feel free to jump in with any ideas or experiences you have!

Friday Round-Up

Thanks to beautiful Neha, I discovered @RealityAbroad's weekly travel abroad chat last week. I had missed their talk about "home" and so I did my own post with my answers this past Tuesday. But this past Wednesday, I got to join in on their chat on "note to self": what you would tell your younger self before going abroad. I heard about some great experiences and interacted with interesting people! They have a chat every Wednesday at 12pm Eastern, so feel free to join in! Next week's chat is about "cultural baggage." (The questions are posted in advance on their facebook page each week if you want to prep in advance, but they are otherwise posted during the chat.) You can use this convenient setup to keep up with the chat.

This week on Andrea's blog, I talked about how I mentally prepared to move abroad a year and a half ago, and things I do even now to keep moving forward.

I'm in love with this arrangement. It's almost right outside my front door!

The best portion of a good man's life: his little, nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.
William Wordsworth

I feel like I've been extra moody lately, so then I see in contrast how important it is to be kind to others, even if there's not a reason to. I still hear "pay it forward" stories and am constantly inspired.

Inferno- I'm about halfway through this one. It goes back and forth between interesting recounts of certain parts of the war and really mundane information. All the personal stories are good to hear, but I admit I don't have a strong stomach for the gruesome stuff. It's hard to think about the necessary truths of war. I'm definitely learning things I never learned in school from this book, but we'll see if I'll end up remembering it later:)