just breathing under: October 2016

So it's been quite a while since I last updated this space with anything regarding my personal life...but recently i've been extremely busy and exhausted from school and as i'm taking a break right now from all my projects and assignments, i thought when else would be a better time for me to reflect and pen my thoughts about school?

For quite some time now i've received quite a number of questions from lots of people about my course: what i do, what i learn, etc. If you're not a friend or don't already know, i'm currently pursuing a degree in Linguistics & Multilingual Studies in NTU and i'm currently in Y2S1 (which is ending in about 2 weeks' time!!!!!!!!!)! As you can see from my multiple exclamation marks i am BEYOND THRILLED at the thought of this semester coming to a close...because trust me when i say this semester has seen me work harder than ever before!!! Like ok maybe i've ever worked a lot harder back in JC but for the first time in a long time i'm actually really feeling the grind!!!! I'm currently juggling several assignments and projects and basically every day i'm just inundated by an endless heap of work and information...cognitive overload is an understatement right now tbh!!! But i guess this workload is pretty normal for year 2s and i'm just lucky (or am i? 🤔) i don't have any final exams so i guess that makes up for the heavier workload this semester...!!! Then again sometimes i'd really very much prefer exams to projects because it's just a one-time thing to get over with unlike projects which usually last through a few weeks!!!! It can be so draining, truly!!! But in the midst of all this hustle i've also been really lucky to have found a great group of friends which were a total blessing in disguise!!!!!!!!! Basically last semester my other friends and i were all allocated different tutorial groups (cause of stupid Star Wars which fucks everyone up tbh HAHAHAHA anyway our system is called STARS so Star Wars is basically us fighting for our time tables cause it works on a fastest-fingers-first basis so you can JUST IMAGINE the pressure like im not even kidding...my adrenaline always pumps so heart and my palms get really sweaty and i even need to turn on the World Clock app just to beat my competitors by the miliseconds the fuck??) and I was the only one who managed to get T1 for everything SO basically i was alone and i can't deny i was really bummed and lonely the first few weeks cause i had no friends!!!!! But thankfully...things eventually worked out and I made myself a few new incredible friends with whom i've hung out ever since and i'm super grateful because they're a bunch of incredibly intelligent and funny women and super empowering so we spend a lot of time working on our projects and assignments together and things really fell into a great place for me!!! Yay!!! So yes!!!! I guess that's one of my biggest plus points for this semester :-)!

Ok so!! One of the most common questions for me is: "What's Linguistics about?" If you've asked me this before you'd probably recall my hem and haw......because it's just so difficult to answer! I honestly think about my answer all the time LOL and very broadly speaking Linguistics is really the science of Language. Basically we examine the different facets of language like how language works, languages of the world, functions and usage of language, language acquisition, language features, semantics phonology grammar syntax ETC.!!!! That's why it's so difficult for me to answer because it's everything to do with language tbh!!!!! And Linguistics itself is such an open-ended field like probably in your very first lecture they'll tell you about how they have different beliefs and camps of Linguists and when you go deeper into your content you'll realize how there are so many things which still remain indefinite today! So it's really not an easy field because...there's kinda like so many different ways to look at all these different things.

But it is also this same open-endedness that has really taught me so much in the process! You'd probably expect a Language expert to become more critical and intolerant of so many things but it is just the opposite for me!!! If anything (and ironically) i've become a lot less critical and a lot more accepting of a lot of things around me like for example last time I used to be a total grammar nazi because correcting people seemed only the right thing to do, right? But ever since i've been introduced to the concepts of Descriptivism (which to me is an essential and imperative quality of all good linguists!!!!!) i realized how immature and narrow-minded i used to be...let me put it this way ok, in the words of one of my favorite profs and i quote: "as a descriptivist, you don't tell the planets how to work, you describe how they work." I've really lived by this ever since and i want to leave this to you to unravel so i won't explain it. You'll figure it out :-)!!

Oh wait, i just remembered i was still on the topic of take-aways LOL so yes!!!! It's definitely changed me as a person through perspectives and i've also been exposed to so many different lamguages in the world it's insane! Learning about all these languagespreviously unknown (to me) and unheard of is really mind/eye-opening! It always makes me think about all the different places and cultures and peoples of the world and it really helps preserve and fuel the flames of my passion for Language!!! As tough as the learning process goes, it somehow has this self-motivating factor in itself which only makes you want to find out more, you know? Like hey i've already read this much of this topic, how can i rob myself of learning even more? The content depth always seems so unending so every time you are step foot into a new module...the learning never ever ends......Oh and speaking of learning, i've yet to mention how my course has really stellar tutors and professors who are so talented and kind and helpful!!! They're just REALLY GOOD at what they do and even though i fall asleep sometimes i really appreciate their expertise!!!

So really this entire entry has been for my benefit as i really enjoyed sitting down penning (or typing) my thoughts and reflection on my linguistic journey thus far but if you have been reading i hope you enjoyed it too!! If you ever wish to find out more about Linguistics you can always google NTU LINGUISTICS and look through our course content to get a better idea of what we really do/learn!!

just breathing under

26 October 2016

Life as I have it!

01 October 2016

Elastic heart