Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Vôce Fala Português ?

Sim. Ummm.... um pouco.

I took an interest in learning Portuguese several years ago. I find the language very beautiful, not at all like Spanish, though they are similar, often compared and yet completely different. I swore for the new year 2011, I would brush up on my French and learn a new language. I finally decided to go forth with learning Portuguese this past May. It's an amazing language. I love it. I love the sound of it, the words and pronunciation. I found a great website that have helped me learn a great deal of Portuguese. But my uninspiring attitude and laziness is keeping me behind in my learning. I have always heard, and believed that learning a language after a certain age becomes extremely difficult. Since I'm in my early twenties I figured why not, though my brain is incredibly developed by now I would like to learn the Portuguese language. Other reasons are the 2014 World Cup which will take place in Brazil (again). I love football and Brazil is one of my top travel destinations, so why not learn the language now? I wonder how long does it take to be able to learn, write, listen and speak a new language? Especially when you're not around native speakers?

Monday, October 17, 2011

Rant: Going Where?

I never thought I was a spoiled child, but as I sit here looking at my 23 year old self, I would say that I was...and I still am. My parents came to the U.S. as immigrants to find opportunities that weren't available in their native country. They raised me and my brother with their views; their immigrant views on life in the US. This was especially enforced by my father. From childhood, till our teens we were only expected to go to school and then work. My parents never forced me and my brother to work during school. As of now, I can say that I am very, very thankful for my parents, because I feel blocked/stuck. I am unemployed awaiting internship calls with a remaining 6 credits needed to graduate. I should have graduated two years ago (at 21), but started feeling the weight of confusion since I transferred to a new school. I'm feeling even more stressed because I want to work in the field I'm studying in, but I've been duped by the hype: Journalism is a dying industry.

It's too late to change my major, as mentioned above. However, even if I wanted to switch I can't think of any other field of work I would like to work in other than Journalism; for now....

My father has been very supportive of me. He wants to me succeed and have a great career. I'm grateful for that. Although I've been held back from the lack of course availability at my college, he's been very encouraging about me taking my time. I know he means well as he's gotten so used to me just going to school and striving for what I want to do. My mother however, sees my academic success as a measuring stick for competition. She compares me too much. She is just not as encouraging as my father is, which is why I barely talk to her about my goals anymore, and I most likely won't until I finish my degree.

Why? I read along the lines that, in order to achieve your goals you have to believe in yourself and have supportive people that see that you reach those goals as well. So, sorry mom.

In the mean time, although I'm feeling unsure about a future in journalism, I hope to find a specific area that I'm comfortable with. I need to find out sooner or later. My 23rd year of life and the year 2012 will be something, everything about me is changing. I hope those changes go where I want them to.

I have the time and opportunity to think harder about my life because of my parents. I am thankful for that because there are others my age who don't have that luxury.