Month: March 2022
One more month
From my last blog post, it seemed like I was really struggling with everything regarding schoolwork, well, It’s been a week and nothing has changed. The only thing that is keeping me going is that there is only a month left of classes. April is almost here and I can’t wait for summer! At the same time, I feel like being away for 3 months from Penn State is going to hurt, I will miss my friends so much, and in my case, coming from strict parents that won’t let me go out with my friends as much as I do here, is going to be a struggle for me.
Living here and being independent means not having to ask my parents for permission for anything, they’re so far away there’s nothing they can do or say to prohibit different activities like going out to parties, having sleepovers, among other social events. My dad is Asian and my mom is Hispanic, that combination is BAD when I want to ask them for permission to go somewhere, they think of any small detail or a possible way for me to get hurt when out, and I understand their concerns but sometimes it’s exhausting. When I ask my American friends how their parent’s situation is when they go out they all say the same: “My parents don’t care as long as I communicate” I feel like that’s how it should be always but that’s not my situation. I miss my Ecuador friend and I’m hoping I can get to take advantage of the time I’m there to see their ad many times I want, all of us parted different ways and summer is going to be our only time to see each other in like a year. Because of covid, I didn’t see them before leaving for the US and never had a proper goodbye so hopefully, we can all see each other soon.
Anyways, that is one of my main concerns about going back to Ecuador, am I going to be able to endure 3 months of having to ask for permission every single time and most likely them saying no. I feel like being 19 years old is enough for me to gain more freedom from them, at the same time I understand their concerns, Ecuador is a beautiful country but it can get dangerous sometimes, you never know what one could find in the streets and sometimes even if one is coming back safe and sound from the streets, there has been a lot going on lately.
Struggling with motivation for school
Lately, I have been having a hard time staying motivated for school. Studying has been a struggle. Although spring break was nice, having a week off really set me back. I had stuck to my daily routine for the entire beginning of the semester but not doing work for a week ruined my desire to stick to my routine after returning to Penn State. Additionally, the warmer and sunnier weather makes me want to be outside with my friends, like i dont want to be in the library on a 2:00 pm while i could be outside having fun and enjoying the beautiful weather.
With Thanksgiving break, it was different because we just had 2 more weeks of school after it, but now we had 6 more weeks of school which sucks because all I want to do is hang out with my friends and see my family. I thought I came refreshed and ready to do a lot of work and study hard but it wasn’t the case. My friends also feel the same way so I know It’s not just me feeling drained from school. However, I know I have to keep pushing through and try to finish strong my freshman year. I have a couple midterms left and then finals. I cant wait for finals but I’m also so a little scared of them because i’m actually doing so well on my classes i dont want to drag my grade down for 1 exam, i feel like that is not fair but it is how it is.
In conlusion, I’m having a hard time adjusting with getting back to my normal productive school routine, I know i will get back to normal eventually but this past 2 weeks I haven’t being doing the most i could, or given my best regarding my classes.
2 more months to go
Unpopular opinion but I missed this. I missed doing work, going to class, seeing my new friends, I missed my college routine. Spring break is over, which means 2 more months to go! I’m so excited to continue this new journey and I think I’m finally adapting to the new student life in such a big university like Penn State. However, 3 months (summer) is a long time, I miss my family and friends from Ecuador but I feel like I’m going to miss Penn State more when I’m there, life here is so much more fun.
My best friend Paige is visiting me over the summer in Ecuador and I couldn’t be more excited, we are going to go to the beach, and possibly visit the Galapagos Islands. I’ve been there a couple of times and it’s amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for anyone. There are so many exotic animals and plants, delicious food, and nice people. I hope she has a great time in my country, and I can’t wait to show her my hometown, I think she’s gonna be somewhat scared of the food because it is certainly different than American food, but it is still GOOD.
Anyways, I can’t believe I’m finishing my freshman year, I think that’s so crazy, it feels like it was yesterday that my parents came to drop me off at Penn State. Now I will be a sophomore but I try not to think about it because I start having existential crises because I’m still not sure about what I’m going to do after I graduate, I know I still have time but I feel like time is not even real now, everything is going by so fast and I’m scared to not figure it out soon enough. I’m still on board with my major so I guess that’s progress, I enjoy doing econ although I do think it’s so hard, the math in it confuses me so much sometimes and I start second-guessing myself ion whether this is what I want to do or should do, however, I enjoy the social science, I enjoy the theories and applications of it, which in my opinion is what matters the most, how to apply something in real life, eventually this is what is going to make the degree count at jobs.
In conclusion, these next months are going to be FUN, STRESSFUL, and most importantly INTENSE. But I’m still excited for what is coming, life will keep getting interesting as time passes by so I’m up for every challenge the universe wants to throw at me.
Genz and human rights
The concept of rights is basically what we’re entitled to have or act in a certain way, they are essential normative rules about what we’re allowed to obtain since we were born and possess by virtue of our nature. Because of the migration of millions of people every day, there are so many new cultures and identities emerging from the combination or merging from 2 completely different ideologies/cultures in the world, for example, there are American/Japanese, American/Korean, American/ Italian, etc. And yes, I mentioned American 3 times, because this is one of the most predominant cultures from which other cultures would mix. This is because of the number of opportunities this country will give to someone, better jobs, better wages or salaries, the overall better quality of life. This has caused issues in human rights to arise because many people have different views of what is a right, or whether someone should have a specific right or not.
What is the difference between civil rights and human rights?
Basically is WHY you have them, human rights arise from you existing, and being a human being, while civil rights come from being part of a nation or state. In the US civil rights have the protection of the US government and many state constitutions. For example, they can protect individuals from discrimination, or grant certain kinds of freedom, like freedom of speech. Today, I’m going to base my civic issues entry on this specific kind of freedom and how the media connects with it.
The new generation of young people usually has a great desire for fighting for human rights, without caring where these people are from because, at the end of the day, all of us are humans. This has caused many rejections and critics to “Gen Z ”, for example, people often say it’s the “softest” generation. The media created the new label of how 2001 to date generation, was a “crystal generation”, to represent humans as transparent, fragile, informed, and technological. The media is necessary for people to know what is happening in the entire world, it makes people aware of their rights by exposing violations by other humans and focusing attention on the different issues and areas that require the attention of many people in order to improve and protect human rights. It has increasingly illuminated problems regarding the human rights system. At the same time, the media can cause many misunderstandings and create big problems within free speech. The first amendment protects the vast majority of freedom of speech and expression, but it does have limits, whether Americans respect and follow these limits is another story. The 3 limits are time, place and manner, these apply to all speech regardless of ideologies expressed. Gen Z are known for letting their voices heard, which can be a good thing but also an issue, protests can get violent and dangerous sometimes. Comparing USA with for example Ecuador, venezuela or Colombia, which are developing countries, from my point of view, American protests are more peaceful than Ecuador, Americans will try to get their views to be heard but not in a violent way, im sure there are some exceptions, but for the most part i think they are way more passive than Ecuador’s protests. In Ecuador protests thousands of people get hurt every time, even kids or women. It’s so easy to call for violence when there is too much opposition and can start getting aggressive. However, it’s not always the opposition’s fault, sometimes the media fails to show how the government or state forces or authorities start this violent actions, there were multiple times were an innocent man was killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the media should start addressing this too, Media in american can get bias pretty easily, and it’s hard to get information out of them when its not to their best interest. Ecuador can be the same way, authorities that own some media channels can make them give multiple false statements all the time.
In conclusion , I think the media is very helpful when it comes to getting to know important information about relevant issues in the world, but we always have to keep in mind how this might not be 100% accurate or complete. There is always another side of the coin, and skepticism is good to keep doing research about serious matters, one is never too informed. Gen Z being called transparent and fragile is actually very accurate, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think we should be proud of being the generation that stands up for those who can’t.
https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory