Reverse Culture Shock

Reverse Culture Shock The week after my semester at MIT ended, I was accompanied by this looming sense of vertigoâ€"like something inside me was always cycling, pushing forward, and in the absence of motion, it was simply falling. This didn’t manifest any more than just a weird feeling swooshing around, and in any case, I was far too busy to contemplate what it meant. I met up with my dad in New York. He had traveled to the US for a program called Book Expo America (BEA) and we were both attendants. My dad’s steadfast love of books translates into an extensive collection of them that I grew up with, even in the absence of much else, and I’m sure being surrounded by this deluge of words and stories had something to do with my wanting to create words and stories. So I imagine that for the both of us, BEA was fun and immersive. To me, it was also somewhat intimidating. There were scores and scores of people, moving from booth to booth, clutching all sorts of books, taking pictures of and getting autographs from famous writers. In fact, I remember prancing all dreamy-eyed past one of the booths when I saw someone. My jaw dropped and my eyes popped open. I heard myself pull in air. It was Jane Lynch, the actress who plays Sue Sylvesterâ€"the hilarious, no-nonsense coach on Glee. She was mere feet away from me, smiling and holding up a book she had written. While this was fun and memorable, it wasn’t the source of my intimidation. I think I just remembered, in some sense, what it means to want to writeâ€"not just simply typing up words whenever an idea for a story comes to mind, but actually having to invest yourself in this battlefield of emotions.   There’s the personal battleâ€"dealing with word choices and certain storylines, wondering if this or that even makes sense, and who in their right minds would want to read this. And then there’s the bigger scopeâ€"trying to get the attention of readers, having to accept strong criticism, having to reconcile with how hard, how crazily hard it is, to break into the global publishing market. I saw all sorts of writersâ€"debut authors promoting their books being published by small, independent presses to renowned authors backed by the powerhouses like Penguin and Scholastic. Let’s just say that I had a lot to contemplate about the newer stories I want to write, and an increased sense of affection for what is mechanically no more than moving my fingers across a keyboard for a long, long time. After the book launch, my dad and I stayed in New York for a few days, and I got to watch every cultural stereotype of the city come to life. Yes, the city never sleeps. Yes, it throbs with life. Yes, a good number of New Yorkers are…well, probably deserving of an occasional punch or two in the face. With a steel chair. Then there was the long, long flight back to Nigeria. After we finally landed, I stepped out into the airport and joined a long line trying to clear customs. The air seemed unusually warm. To the left of me, a small bickering dialogue between a scowling officer and a family burst into full screaming. As I observed this, the power in the airport went out as if to say, “Hey buddy, welcome home.” I grinned, because it definitely felt like home. ** We all know about inertia, about the little resistance our bodies give when a fast-moving car suddenly comes to a halt. It’s like we’ve just settled into an unchanging state of mind, all like, “Okay, this is what’s happening, p-sets and complaining and hunting down unhealthy free food. I can deal with it. And then Life steps on the brakes, and the car screeches and you just have to lurch, because you don’t wanna stop. You wanna keep moving. When I came to the US in September to begin my studies at MIT, my world restructured itself on a fast, personal and somewhat upsetting level. I had to go from eating mostly Nigerian meals to eating mostly non-Nigerian meals. I had to deal with the cold, crappy weather and dressing up like an astronaut all the time. I also had to squeal in delight at things I’d never been used toâ€"the constant power supply, the unbelievably fast internet speed, the culture of diversity that brimmed in MIT, people who were so like-minded in their capacity for diverse forms of ingenuity. It was a thrilling world, and a strange one, and the inertial being in me, while getting used to this, still clamored for the safe familiarity of homeâ€"of my friends and my food and my family. Thankfully, MIT was a good place to be overwhelmed by culture shock, and with time, I found myself adjusting. Now that I’m back to Nigeria, there’s a lesser but marked degree of reverse culture shock. When talking about MIT to friends and family, I unconsciously find myself speaking in usual MIT lingo. I’m back to my usual regimen of Nigerian dishesâ€"I still have pleasant dreams about some spicy goat pepper-soup I had days agoâ€"but it still feels delightfully strange to be eating eba and egusi after so long instead of pasta and pizza. Of course, the power keeps flickering in and out, and I’ve had to remind myself that seeing things like a line of men peeing into a gutter or beggars lining busy commercial roads or conductors hanging from buses and screaming names of places are all commonplace here. There’s a strong sense of displacement I can’t quite explainâ€"like whatever was cycling around me in MIT has suddenly decided it wants to run instead of cycle. I don’t think it’s because I forgot what home was likeâ€"that’s far from possible, barring some nasty treat like Alzhe imer’sâ€"but it’s like after returning home, my mind is constantly juxtaposing every sight I take in with its American analog, from the movies to the roads to the food to even the sprawling skyline. In any case, I haven’t been to Nigeria in nearly ten months, and it feels great to be back. ** I’ve caught up with old high school classmates. I’ve kept on working on the new book I’ve been thinking of, and I think the characters being mind-painted are heading down what looks like a dark, solemn road. But I think the most important event I’m looking forward to right now is the Whirlwind of Metamorphosis book launch. It’s common in Nigeria for novels to be officially shown to the public in a launch ceremony, in which the book is presented to an audience and sales begin. Even while I was in the US, the book publishers had been busy. There’s a planning committeeâ€"it handles everything from invitations to marketing to program of events for that day. A hall has been booked, and we’re expecting over three hundred guests. Support has been pouring in from distant relatives and family friends and even people I don’t know, in terms of checks and hugs and verbal encouragement. Theres also been merchandisefrom branded caps to branded T-shirts to branded bags. This Thursday promises to be quite a day, and I’m looking forward to it. There’s something surreal about the whole processâ€"this whole deal started with my parents discussing the news. A kidnapping had taken place. A family was in shreds. For whatever reason, that stuck with me, and I begin to see another family crawling inside my head, undergoing the same thing. For a long time, these people existed in my head. I began to type, and they began to live on dark letters assembling on a screen. I only realized well into the process that this was a book I would actually like to see published, and I think I’m just realizing that the concept, the dream itself, existed in an inert place in my mind. It was very real to me, but while I imagined that it could someday leave the confines of my imagination and become a real thing to others as well, the whole thought was subdued by some cynical other self remarking, “Yes, yes, dream on. Imagine. That’s pretty healthy, right? But that’s all it’s gonna be. And that’s absolutely fine.” But thankfully, very thankfully, that wasn’t all it was. So while I count down with my family and friends to June 19, I’m realizing again that after a long period spent indoors, dreams sometimes get big enough to climb out of our minds. There’s a whole lot of local support for the book, for which I’m grateful. I think our minds are like cemeteries, and ideas just lay buried in their own graves. Dig hard enough, and one of them will just spring right out. And if there’s one thing you should take away from this post, it’s simply this: do not dig open a grave in real life. That’s just plain nasty and probably illegal. But it’s a thing to be said about imagination that in the province of the mind, this becomes a mere analogy. Then, those dirt-hitting shovels will strike something that becomes bigger than the mind that gave birth to it. Wish me luck on June 19th.

Benefits of Music Essay - 1038 Words

Music â€Å"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.† These were the words of Sergei Rachmaninoff, a Russian composer and pianist who was very influential in the twentieth century. Sergei had a very accurate perception of music and he understood the significance that music has. For some people, music is the center of their lives and it is the foundation on how they live. Everybody knows what music is and they all have heard a form of it but most people underestimate the value and power music has in our everyday lives. Whether they know it or not music can affect the mood of people and influence their behaviors as well. Music is so much more than it is made out to be and it is a core aspect of life itself. As†¦show more content†¦Different types of music help different things. Music with a strong beat causes the brain to sync with the beat and as a result the patient is more alert and can concentrate more efficiently. Slower more laid back typ es of music helps people relax and helps bring them down to a meditative state. As the brain is a muscle it also is capable of responding to muscle memory like the other muscles found throughout the body. As a result this causes the brain to shift speeds more easily even without music making these effects long term benefits. Music is an effective tool which has uses that are only limited by the people who create it. Music is very influential in society today. It is present in almost every part of our everyday lives. Imagine watching a movie that does not contain any music whatsoever. Some movies are dependent of scenes that convey a sense of emotion in which the audience has a connection to the characters in the movie. Whenever a significant scene in a movie occurs there will be background music to further help the mood whether it is an emotional moment or an action sequence. 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What You Can Do About High School Research Paper Example Beginning in the Next 3 Minutes

What You Can Do About High School Research Paper Example Beginning in the Next 3 Minutes Sample research paper may arrive in handy as you are writing your own assignment. You can opt to get an essay at Essays-Writer. Superior essays expect a thesis, support, and strong conclusion. In the event that you were fortunate enough to compose your college essay or research paper, you may want to edit it until shiny. High school essay writing is a frequent classroom activity and is also part of several normal examinations. Writing college research papers is an extremely challenging endeavor for the majority of students. Students should use many sources when writing research papers. While sometimes the student can select from a list of suggested topics, he might also be permitted to choose one of his own. A considerable introduction is one which tells the readers what the composition is about. Regardless of what level you're in your academic career you can and is going to be an excellent essay writer if you adopt a system of practicing more frequently. You have to make sure the information on your research paper is organized, in order for your readers won't have any trouble reading. A fantastic high school research paper example will be simple to spot. Avoid utilizing the online free reference websites or essay writing services unless you are quite sure at of the quality they supply. Put simply, you ought to be a versatile writer in order to deal with the task along with flawless grammar and the capability to deliver plagiarism free content. The job of writing an essay occasionally be hectic since there is an assortment of elements which you must indicate including the style to use, the title page, the work cited part and the total editing and proofreading. First things first, You will want to choose what sort of information to have in your disclaimer. 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Do that while you have sufficient time before submitting the paper to your professor, so the writers have sufficient time to finish this task for you as well as for you to be in a position to request of any probable corrections if they're needed. The One Thing to Do for High School Research Pape r Example Be quick to satisfy our English research paper topics for high school so you'll finish your paper punctually. High school research paper is the simplest among the other forms of papers. Make certain that the research paper example that you're trying to find is in your field of study. Before writing a research paper, an individual can refer to an excellent case of a research paper research. The common structure of a paper is composed of an introduction, the body, and a conclusion. There's no one to properly guide them on how best to write research paper examples, and this also results in frustration. 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The Splendiferous Sunset Free Essays

The horizon slices through the magnificent sun, a bigger segment lying in reflection in the water as its sharp blend of rays in orange, pink, blue, red and purple pierce the clouds painfully. The bright yellow, hot flames that had been warming and brightening the day slowly extinguish, converting to deep cool orange flames. The never ending, deep ocean tardily becomes several shades darker, mirroring the splendiferous sky while sharing the unique beauty of its colours smoothly. We will write a custom essay sample on The Splendiferous Sunset or any similar topic only for you Order Now The scene is simply dazzling. Colours of the rainbow given off by the umbrellas, hats and swimming costumes, battled wildly against the colour of, the golden sand; a layer of tiny eroded rocks blanketing the land from the ocean. All the colours were fading swiftly like water pouring out of a jug. The dark grey cliffs piercing the splendid sky, with its sharp heads, adding to my view of the sweet scene, hanging uninterestingly in the sides of the sand. The once noisy beach, where children’s shout of laughter was heard, is suddenly slowly being replaced by the constant whisper of the wind and the splashing, spluttering and swishing of the waves. Footprints stamped into the sizzling sand, being washed away by the wild waves driven by the wind; erasing all evidences of life having been there. Distant leaving figures, against the stunning colours of the background, were shown as black difficult to observe. Silence hung, a sharp knife, threatening anything that disturbs it. Sharp rocks pierce my feet as I walk through the sand slowly, but also strangely comforting at the same time; the skin on my feet being slowly stroked by the waves is left tingling. As I slowly sat myself positioned between the sand and small waves, the feeling of comforting loneliness suddenly started to overwhelm me, the sereneness of the sunset scene, the whispering of the few trees stranded, the sound of the distant seagulls all combined together able to make any stone heart melt. As the enormous orange marble makes the last step of its journey, welcoming the darkness that would soon wrap itself around the world until tomorrow, with its remaining rays. I got up slowly, my gaze on the amazing scene before me; trying to absorb as much of the beauty while it lasts. Inch by inch the orange marble slips out of view, letting its slowly extinguishing rays say goodbye with the little energy left in the rays to the land soon to be enclosed in darkness. I started to run home. How to cite The Splendiferous Sunset, Papers

Teenage Pregnancy Vs Parental Consent In Regards To Abortions (Unwante

Teenage Pregnancy Vs Parental Consent In Regards To Abortions (Unwanted Abortions) Teenage Pregnancy VS Parental Consent in Regards to Abortions (Unwanted Abortions) In today's society, Teenage Pregnancy has risen to substantial percentages. Teenage pregnancy has become an epidemic. Statistics show that Teenage pregnancy has reached at all time high percentage resulting in an high abortion percentage. According to Seventeen magazine, the April 99 issue, reports show that more than a million teenagers get pregnant yearly. Among them 50% have abortions of the other 50%, 96% keep their babies and 41% option for adoption. On the same report, teens who get pregnant before the age of 21, 80% don't intend to be so. Being a teenager has stresses of its own. Starting from adolesence, which is the ages of 12-17, brings on a major developmental process. For example: puberty, identity, and thinking abstractly. Just to name a few. While reviewing Family Planning Pespections, the Jan/Feb of 99 issue, stated that teenagers are not fit to make decisions as to whether or not to have an abortion. And that's where Parental Consent comes in to play. Alot of parents feel the need to control their teenagers. Being that teenagers are not fully developt, they have to be the second brain for them. Alot of young adults know more than we think. Even though they tend to make pretty bad decisions, does not mean they are completly clueless. Everyone has made or will make an unwise decision in their life some time or another. We just have to learn from our mistakes. That apart of growing up. Eventhough teen pregnancy has skyrocketed in this country, I don't fell that no one has the right to force any one into an unwanted abortion. Although most teens between the ages of 13-17 have no ideal what life is all about at this point; some do have a level of maturity to care for a child if taught right. I honestly feel that parents should not force their daughters into abortions. Teenagers are still yet fragile. An abortion can cause major psychological problems for a young girl mentally and physically due to the fact that abortions can cause sterility. We as parents need to help these young ones, teach them and show them what their doing wrong, not criticize them for what their doing. Health and Beauty Essays

Tidal Energy essays

Tidal Energy essays Tidal energy is a type of energy that produces electricity and other forms of power through the use of water. The tides in places that naturally hold water, such as lakes and oceans, make the water able to produce this energy. This energy that causes the power is held in tidal waters. There is so much potential energy in the earth's oceans and other natural water containers that is not being used, but could be. (Tidal Energy) The method of using tidal energy for power dates back to the 11th century. In that century, mechanical energy was produced by having water run through a water wheel. The water wheel turned as a result of this, powering whatever was intended to be powered. In modern day, tidal energy is used to produce electricity through the rise and fall of the tides. This provides electricity for coastal areas. (Tidal Energy) The coastal areas are the only places where electricity may come from tidal energy, unfortunately. Just because the area is a coastal one does not mean the area's electricity can come from tidal energy. The first restriction is the area must have generally high tides. An ideal place for tidal energy to produce power is the Bay of Fundy in Atlantic Canada. The tides in the Bay of Fundy reach up to seventeen meters (these are the highest tides in the world). The tides must have at least a five meter difference between high and low tides. The higher the tides are, the more power will be produced, therefore, coastal areas with high tides are ideal so that there will be sufficient power for the area since tidal energy can only be produced twice a day, at high tide. (Tidal Energy) Another restriction for an area to be able to use tidal energy is the area must be financially able to afford this form of power. In the area that holds the water, a dam must be installed, as well as gates and turbines. Ideally, an area with a narrow opening is best for this so that less money will ...

The Xinjiang Qanat System of the Turpan Oasis

The Xinjiang Qanat System of the Turpan Oasis The Xinjiang Qanat System is a remarkable feat of irrigation engineering skill, and it is considered one of the three great wonders of China, after the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) Great Wall and the Sui Dynasty (581–618 CE) Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The qanat (also known as a karez) system is a rich water source for the Turpan Oasis, tapping groundwater stored in the deep subsurface gravel layers of the Gobi belt. What makes this all the more interesting is the fact that scholars are still not agreed upon when the qanat system was built... and that begs the question of who built it. Climate of the Turpan The Turfan (or Turpan) basin, located to the east of the more famous Tarim Basin, is one of the driest areas in China, with a total precipitation of 15-25 millimeters (under one inch) per year, and an elevation about 160 meters (524 feet) below sea level. The average temperature of the basin is 32.7 degrees Celsius (90.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in July, but the winters are rather chilly, and in January the average temperatures are about 9.5 degrees C (49.6 degrees F), and can fall as low as -28 degrees C (18 degrees F). The Turfan Basis, while a desert, is much more hospitable than its southern neighbor, the harsh Taklamakan Desert. Wedged between the Taklamakan and the Tianshan Mountains, the Turfan was a much preferred, not to say feasible, route for travelers on the Silk Road: its oasis was a critical stopover. Irrigating the Turfan Theres no doubt that the oasis had a natural beginning. A total of 4,000 sq km (1,500 sq mi) of the Turfan Basin lies below sea level; the Turpan Oasis lies in the lowest part, at an elevation of 154 m (505 ft) below average sea level. The oasis is nestled at the foot of the Tianshan (Flaming or Heavenly) mountains, and from autumn to spring, water from snowmelt off the Tienshan rushes into Turpan, revitalizing the oasis naturally. But at some time in its past- scholars argue that occurred anywhere from 200 to 2,000 years ago- the residents of Turpan built a massive qanat system that reached into the water table and tapped the aquifer, in some cases up to 200 m (650 ft) below the surface. That system included over 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of underground tunnels and thousands of wells. Whether it was built as a result of an environmental disaster or merely insurance against one, the Xinjiang qanat system is evidence that the Turpan was a highly prized stop on the Silk Road. Qanats in the Deserts A qanat is a system of underground tunnels and wells that tap deeply buried aquifers in arid and semi-arid places. In brief, a well is dug into the aquifer, a horizontal tunnel is excavated from the well to a surface collection place and ventilation shafts are placed at intervals along the tunnel to provide maintenance access. Invented by the Persians in the 7th century BCE, qanat technology was spread by imperialism: outside of Persia by the 6th century BCE Achaemenid king Darius the Great; into Syria and Jordan by the Romans in the first and second century CE; into North Africa and Spain by the Islamic civilization in the 12th and 13th centuries CE; and finally into North and South America during the 16th century Spanish conquest. The only place in China where qanats exist at all is in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in the Turfan basin on the far western edge of Chinas realm. Deserts make up 43 percent of Xinjiang province, oases only about 4.3 percent and the rest is mountains. In the 2nd century BCE, the international trade network called the Silk Road was dependent on a line of strategically situated oases wedged between the Tianshan Mountains and the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim and Turfan basins. Turpan was an important oasis in the eastern-most segment of the Silk Road, and, even today, more than 95 percent of the total population and almost all the agriculture, settlements and industries in Xinjiang are concentrated in the Turpan Oasis. The Size and Complexity of the Turpan Qanat System The Turpan qanat system includes at least 1,039 qanats (some sources suggest as many as 1,700), with underground channels stretching for a length of more than 5,000 kilometers, or about 3,100 miles. While there is no doubt that the origins of the Turpan Oasis were natural, there is also no doubt that the Xinjiang Qanat System was built to increase the available access to water. Whether the qanats were built as a result of climate change or to support a population increase or even provide year-round water is open to debate: probably a little of all those things. Estimates for the construction date of the qanats vary from the first century BCE to the 19th century CE. The system is so successful that grapes are grown in a region of what is essentially a continental desert- the earliest grapes in Turpan are from the Subeixi culture Yanghai tombs, with an  AMS radiocarbon date of about 300 BCE. What we know for sure is that in the 1950s, an intense increase in well irrigation was established in Turpan, over-exploiting the aquifer: since then the majority of the qanats have dried and become abandoned. Only 238 were functioning in 2009. The Karez Wells in Turpan were inscribed into UNESCOs Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2012. Sources Beck U, Wagner M, Li X, Durkin-Meisterernst D, and Tarasov PE. 2014. The invention of trousers and its likely affiliation with horseback riding and mobility: A case study of late 2nd millennium BC finds from Turfan in eastern Central Asia. Quaternary International 348:224-235. Chen T, Yao S, Merlin M, Mai H, Qiu Z, Hu Y, Wang B, Wang C, and Jiang H. 2014. Identification of Cannabis Fiber from the Astana Cemeteries, Xinjiang, China, with Reference to Its Unique Decorative Utilization. Economic Botany 68(1):59-66. Jiang H-E, Zhang Y, Là ¼ E, and Wang C. 2015. Archaeobotanical evidence of plant utilization in the ancient Turpan of Xinjiang, China: a case study at the Shengjindian cemetery. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 24(1):165-177. Luo L, Wang X, Guo H, Liu C, Liu J, Li L, Du X, and Qian G. 2014. Automated extraction of the archaeological tops of qanat shafts from VHR imagery in Google Earth. Remote Sensing 6(12):11956-11976. Luo L, Wang X, Liu J, Guo H, Lasaponara R, Ji W, an d Liu C. 2017. Uncovering the ancient canal-based tuntian agricultural landscape at Chinas northwestern frontiers. Journal of Cultural Heritage 23(Supplement):79-88. Tang Y-N, Li X, Yao Y-F, Ferguson DK, and Li C-S. 2014. Environmental Reconstruction of Tuyoq in the Fifth Century and Its Bearing on Buddhism in Turpan, Xinjiang, China. PLoS ONE 9(1):e86363.Wang S, and Zhao X. 2013. Re-evaluating the Silk Roads Qinghai Route using dendrochronology. Dendrochronologia 31(1):34-40.