By Keon West
Kingston, Jamaica
Psychology, French
After Mac: Rhodes Scholar
Entry No. 3
Today, I ate something that was bleeding. That's right. It was bleeding. I was staring at this piece of beef that my host mom Géraldine affectionately offered me, proudly describing it as de la viande à peine morte, à peine cuite. I found that a bit generous. I agree completely with à peine morte. But à peine cuite? No, no, no. By Keonian standards anything that can benefit from a bandaid is not cooked at all.
I put it in my mouth. Géraldine says, "It's good for you. You need it to help build up red blood cells." Note to self: check out this fact.
And I thought I would escape culture shock.
Entry No. 42
I found Montmartre. I plotted a course and I started walking. I felt alive and independent. I knew the city and what I was doing. I began to form a mental map of Paris, which would leave me infinitely less lost next time. What's even better is that while I was walking, a woman asked me how to find something. And get this: I told her where it was! In flawless French! Ain't that something? She had no clue that she was talking to a foreigner who just landed in France a few weeks ago.
Entry No. 55
Somebody touched on something last night. Colonialism? Prejudice? Racism? Who knows? All I know is that they were dealing with a Mac student who is now in his third year and his fourth country. Oh, did I ever teach them a thing or two. They couldn't believe the amount that I knew, enhanced by the fact that I was a psychology major who took the courses Racism, with Professor Kendrick Brown; African Cinema, with Professor Joelle Vitiello; and Pluralism in France, with Professor Nicholas Dobelbower. You must take these classes! It will probably mess with your GPA, but it's worth it.
Entry No. 65
I have, for a long time, had serious doubts about the value of a liberal arts education. And yet, I sit in a library in the south of France (which is score 1 for the liberal arts system) typing a 15-page paper in French (score 2) about the similarities and differences between psychoanalysis in France and psychology in America (score, like, a freaking billion). It's great. My doubts are gone.
The liberal arts taught me not to be afraid. I thought I couldn't learn languages. … Now I'm convinced that I can learn anything if I try.
—Keon West |
The liberal arts taught me not to be afraid. I thought I couldn't learn languages. I speak French fluently. I never studied psychology before; people tell me I'm brilliant at it. So, unafraid, I invested $200 in a flute. I plan to learn that, too. Before, I was convinced that I couldn't learn music. Now I'm convinced that I can learn anything if I try.
And, so far I seem to be right. The more I take random, haphazard classes the more I realize how much I can make use of the knowledge that I'm gaining. I'm still not sure how I'll ever use the ability to explain, using mostly bone structure, why exactly pterodactyls are not "flying dinosaurs." But it may come in handy. Someday.
Sometimes I think, "I'm 21 years old and I don't know what I'm doing. I could still be anything." Then I smile and say it again. "I'm 21 years old, and I can still do anything."
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