Postcard assignment

For our postcard assignment, I chose to purchase one depicting one of my favorite locations on campus: Sylvan Grove. (The postcard included several smaller images so I chose to focus on this scene, image above.)

I visited Sylvan Grove at midday on a Thursday afternoon, and the weather was decent for Seattle — it wasn’t raining, at least. However it also wasn’t sunny, so this is the first obvious difference I noted on the back of this postcard. The image on the postcard shows the four columns surrounded by sunlight and green grass, and the whole scene looks very idyllic. In reality, the Grove is more often cast in shadows. Furthermore, the image makes it look like this place is untouched and rarely visited, which is relatively true, but on an average day there’s at least two or three other people enjoying the quietude, and when it’s sunny I regularly see groups of people enjoying a picnic or a game of frisbee. Even when there aren’t lots of people in this area, it’s easy to still hear the hustle and bustle of campus, whether it be cars and buses driving by on Stevens Way or people walking to and from class in the EE building and up and down Rainier Vista. In capturing the columns at their finest, in the light of the sun and without people surrounding them, the postcard paints a bit of a false image for visitors of UW.

This is probably true of most all postcards, guidebooks, and the like — they choose to show the scene or location when it’s looking its best. It makes sense, but this is very important to keep in mind when we’re traveling abroad and might have some preconceived ideas of what the cities and monuments we’re visiting should look like. This assignment emphasized to me the importance of keeping an open mind.

Linguaphile through and through

If I could have one superpower, it would be to be fluent in every language across the globe. This particular word encapsulates both my love of language and my excitement for traveling to Europe next month. Fernweh is a German word (how appropriate!) that communicates something we have no word for in English, something that makes me appreciate even more the importance of appreciating diversity in our communities and in our world. Fernweh essentially means “farsickness” — not quite the opposite of homesickness, and not quite the equivalent of wanderlust. It’s an ache to travel and to explore and to learn. It feels impossible that my adventure to Germany and Spain begins in just a little over a month, and I am definitely experiencing some fernweh as my departure date approaches…I look forward to learning more about my world and myself as I experience many places I’ve never been! Gute nacht <3

Research possiblities

I’m finding it a little difficult to hone in on one specific research question for this summer’s study abroad, in part because coming from an elementary humanities and social sciences background, I don’t have much experience with conducting research; and in part because so many different aspects of this topic intrigue me! However, like many of my classmates, I am interested in healthcare, but perhaps in a different way than some. I am specifically interested in public health, and therefore the social determinants of health; ie, how income and wealth disparities affect health rather than how infectious diseases or exercise/behavioral factors affect health. Also, when I was looking for a picture to accompany this week’s post, I came across the above infographic which was quite interesting (click the photo to see it in more detail). I found this infographic interesting because it addresses an aspect of healthcare I haven’t previously considered — the individual’s preference for private versus public healthcare. In considering this, it might be interesting to consider the differing attitudes between youth and adults in access to healthcare; although since we are already comparing three different countries, this might become a little too complex.

On a different topic entirely, I am interested in researching how youth unemployment affects leisure time. Last quarter in my Spanish class, we read about the mileuristas, which is essentially the Spanish citizens of my generation just a few years older than I am, who have recently graduated college and have degrees but because of the poor economy, are living on just about a thousand euros per month. (Click here for the article in English.) This would also tie into the educational system in each respective country, and I think it would be very interesting to investigate the attitudes and activities of young Spaniards and Germans who are out of work. I also recently attended a volunteer recognition ceremony in which the keynote speaker addressed the importance of volunteerism for unemployed people — so it would be interesting to see if volunteerism is important at all in Spain and Germany, especially for those without paying jobs.