Reflection

This class has been rewarding in so many ways. As I said earlier in the class, there are many components that add to this class such as Dreamweaver, blogging, Photobucket, Youtube, videos, articles, journalism, writing, designing, and so many more. I am happy to get introduced how to use Dreamweaver and was able to make my own website. It is definitely a very handy software that is very useful for future purposes.

I am pretty amazed how a table can actually create such website, I never thought of it. I thought making a website is a more complicated process. I found out after taking this class and finishing this website, 'complicated' is not the word to describe making a website but 'detailed' and 'persistence'. When I was doing my final completion last night, I have to be extremely detailed  that all the links, articles, side bars are all connected. Last night at around 12, Photobucket went error too but glad I managed to upload my last photo. 

I would not say this class is the easiest but it is a fun class. The work is above average with the blog posting, Facebook posting etc. However, it is totally doable. I am happy to have it as a May Term rather than Fall Term.  I feel like if it was on regular term, it will be so long and overdue.  My downfall is really is to write the stories. Especially with the interviews and articles. It took up so many points when for example my stories did not go well or there are a few errors etc.  With regard to my topic too, there are not many people that feel homesick at this time so I really have to pull their answers out about the feelings etc. I just hope my website grading is good because I was hoping to get at least 90 percent in this class to feel accomplished. Let's hope for the best.

I am just hoping that my website can be up for quite a while so I can use it for applying for job in the future after graduating. I would definitely use the skills I learn from this class in the future. I really enjoy designing my website layout too. It gives me so much joy. I think this class has taught me a lot of new skills and I am glad I took it.

CA 349: Accomplished!

This is the 9th posting of the blog, that also means this is class is over and May Term is over. Tomorrow is going to be my last day as a junior in college.

It has been such a rewarding term since I took this class and decided to explore the topic of homesickness. I learned a lot and get to know about homesick deeper. I also found out that there are many people who feel the same way like I used to. Homesickness is just a normal feeling when you miss a place that you feel loved, accepted, comfortable, family-like and feel 'home'.

It is interesting for me to when I wrote about the topic of homesickness because I don't feel homesick anymore. I found it similarity with people I talked to and I interviewed: I often feel homesick over holidays. Fact check: I will be staying here over summer taking summer courses so I might not go home (since I will go home in Christmas or my parents are coming for graduation). I have a wondering thoughts whether I will be homesick or not. Hopefully not.

I also learned a lot of technical stuffs how to make websites from this class. I always think it is hard, but it is apparently doable. It was a fun thing to do.

It has been such a great class. Thanks for everyone who helped making it fun to learn!

Photo credit: Cliff Brockman

Photo credit: Cliff Brockman

Photo credit: Cliff Brockman

 

Homesickness in Adult: What I found out

I had my interview with Jette Irgens and Dr. Kunihiko Terasawa for my last article, homesickness among adults. Talking to these two people are always refreshing and thoughtful. As always, the conversation went on more than 15 minutes.

My first interview was with Jette. Jette was in my shoes, and specially many other international students shoes. She left home when she was 19 to pursue her undergrad career, from Denmark to Norway. Jette said she remembers being so homesick the first time she moved away from home. Her first year in Norway was depressing but after that period of transition she felt pretty settled and she knew her way around. When she moved to Iowa, she did not really feel homesick in that sense but she says she feel it unfamiliar with the culture, customs, etc. Occasionally, the only time she feels homesick is during holidays, such as Christmas Eve. Jette also shares an interesting story when she was in Brazil. She felt totally frustrated and exhausted when she sat with a group of Brazilians joking around and she did not understand any of the joke because her Portuguese was not good enough. I could totally relate to what she feels. The same thing happened to me when I first moved to Italy in 2009, even worse it was in English.

My second interview was with Dr. Terasawa, it was such a privilege to be able to talk to him and get Dr. Terasawa to open up because he says he does not quite enjoy publicity. He also served me a He really wanted to make sure that the story only goes to class. I got to know him personally about his childhood, teenagehood. Just like Jette, he has been away from home since he was in high school. He always went to school in a different hometown from where his parents live. He went to Tokyo for undergrad and since then he never lived with his parents anymore. I would say from my interview, Dr. Terasawa hardly ever felt homesick. But recently, he told me he has a strong desire to trace back to his roots and visit the house where his family used to live. He would consider it a different type of homesickness since he is aging. He also says it might be 'going back to the roots phenomenon' since his parents are no longer alive. From there, our conversation went to another directions: religions and politics. It was a critical conversation of the day.

Both Jette and Dr. Terasawa do not feel homesick anymore. There is one reason why: they both love their jobs and enjoy what they are doing!

It reminds me of Confucius quote "Do what you love, and you will never work for your job"

Bisous,
Rut

Does faculty member get homesick too?

I am trying to answer my post title. I wonder if faculty members get homesick too. That's why my fourth article will be exploring about this. Actually also the reason why I am trying to write about it because I am running out of ideas what to write.  But hey, this one could be a good one!

So I have emailed Jette Irgens, Dr. Tamrat Gashaw and Dr. Kunihiko Terasawa. Finally today they replied to my emails (apart from Dr. Gashaw). But I will have my interview with Jette tomorrow at 10:15 right after class and at 1:15 with Dr. Terasawa. at 1:15. Ah, finally I can feel a little relieve about this assignment.

The reason why I am asking these three faculty members because they have lived in the U.S. for a period of time. However I am aware that some of them might not feel homesick at all. That's why here is how I am going to order my questions

1. Where is home to you?
2. How many years have you lived in the United States? 
3. Do you think adults or faculty members at Wartburg feel homesick too?
4. Have you ever feel homesick since during work days?
5. What do you usually miss the most when you feel like missing home?
6. What are the things from your home country that you can't find it here in the U.S.?
7. What do you usually do when you miss home? 
8. What does home mean to you?

Broll Problems

I have been working on my video too, today and later I found out I needed more brolls.
But gladly I found some new footage that I took last week during the Holi Festival and my interview with Alli and Emily. I found out too I have enough broll from the ladies event two weeks ago.

Friends, can you believe that our class almost come to an end? I feel like it was just yesterday when Cliff taught us about Dreamweaver for the first time and tomorrow we have to be done with the video and three blog postings. Imagine that!

I have enjoyed working on my video package since  I have not been working on it for quite a while.

Taken from Adobe Premier Video

I am not homesick

There has been interesting stories that I found when I was working on my third story or the second side bar. I really thought I can easily find international students who are (still) homesick, but I was wrong. 

They sometimes do, but that period of missing home all the time is over.

One day I asked a friend if mine if I can interview her. I told her about my project and she told me "I don't think I am the right person because I don't feel homesick."

My next-door neighbors also said the same things. "I am not homesick".

She also told me a story of her dad who has not met her mom for almost 34 years. I thought it was ridiculous because I would have missed my parents for that long. Surprisingly too, these two people who I wanted to interview have not returned to their country yet since they got back to the United States. 

However, I finally found three other students who wanted to open up about their homesick feelings. 

I talked with Abdo Gubran and found out his reason not to go home is not only because of financial issue. Abdo is from Yemen. His country political situation is not stable so if he goes home he might not be able to come back to U.S. if the U.S. embassy is close, for example. 

Abdo also said if he could he would go home. I remember one great quote from him
"No one really wants to leave their country where their hearts really belong to but sometimes the situation drive them to do it."  

Abdo decided to take a selfie with my phone that I used to interview him

 

Good Friends, No Homesick

I just finished my second article! I had an interview with Emily and Allie. Allie is from Colorado and Emily is from Minnesota. Unlike Emily, Alli cannot go home every weekend. She needs to fly to Denver.

But there is one thing that they both have in common, they both are friends and when they miss each other they do activities together. Here is what I based my story on.

My second article basically talks about how important having friends through college transitions. This is also exactly what Molly said in my first interview. Especially, the first two months of college is the crucial period for making this type of connections.

Both Emily and Allie have smooth transitions from high school to college, so it was not really a problem for them. However, sometimes they still miss home.

Both Allie and Emily agree that having good friends in college is very important to make us feel comfortable and not wanting or missing our family all the time.

Emily also brought valuable things from home, such as dolls (which i did not mention in my story). This is exactly what Molly said!

Emily was showing her valuable 'things' from home that she brought from home. The pikachu doll is from her brother.