I'm going to try out this new experimental thing today, where I don't bother writing anything in my journal besides a date and sign off and just type the entire entry on my blog, because a) it's something I don't mind people reading, and b) I'm too lazy to write everything and typing is way faster.
So I have this thing on Evernote called "the surrogate journal" which is what it sounds like. Today, I found myself talking about my day so far on it, as I had my laptop with me and was sitting around waiting. I figure I'll copy and paste what I typed out, and then continue the entry after I left out because boy, was it a fun evening. Here goes!
le 6 avril 2016
Arthur Kleinman came and gave a guest lecture to our anthro class today! This makes the second class he’s spoken in front of that I’ve been in. Today, it was about a modern application of Weber’s theories. The readings for it were actually really good, and resonated with me a lot. They talked about social suffering, and how to deal with human misery that occurs as a result of pre-existing structures rather than natural disasters, war, or epidemics. I feel like I have been somewhat exposed to this, but not on a more profound level like he has and like he writes about; I do hope one day to be able to work with these issues, though. I especially liked how impassioned he was about putting findings from social science studies into action. That’s exactly what I was hoping to do with anthro. It’s good for me now to be able to get all this exposure and take advantage of all these opportunities as an anthro concentrator, but I’m hoping in the future to apply this knowledge in somehow improving the lives of people I work with. I obviously gave up on, or rather, changed my mind about the practical medicine way of doing that, but I know for sure there are other ways I can make an impact on people. Something that would take a deep understanding of their lived experiences, knowing how to take that and applying it into some kind of social reform that would make lasting improvements. Really, his speech was so inspiring. When I heard it, it made me think that that was what I wanted to be doing with my life, even if he didn’t give any specifics. He talked about how there will always be human misery, this perpetual negativity, but that we should all aim to at least change it even in a little way. I haven’t seen that much. There is much more I have yet to see and more lives have yet to touch mine, and I was already vaguely considering what Kleinman brought up, but now I feel like I have more purpose and even more pride in what it is I’m studying at Harvard (if that was possible). What am I even writing anymore. I’m just sitting here at this statue in the Amtrak Back Bay Station, feeling the occasional rumble of the metro beneath me. Oh well, this saves me time from having to write later and all I’ll have to do is scribble, “Written in surrogate journal.” (Wait, as well as what happens after I stop typing in this too.) Anyway, I had the usual tiring Wednesday. We had a small test in Polish, which was actually not that bad because what we had to do was write sentences that included words given in a list. There were some whose meaning I completely forgot (but won’t after getting the tests back), but at least I was able to–
(At this point I had to put my laptop away because I ended up meeting up with a friend I was supposed to see, so I'll continue it here, in a much less "block-paragraph" format (that's just how I write in my journals).)
–make up some sentences.
This evening, I had planned to meet up with two good friends from Boston University for tapas at a place in the South End of Boston called Barcelona Wine Bar & Restaurant. I arrived around thirty minutes early for our rendezvous at the Amtrak Back Bay Station, so I found a place to sit, take out my laptop, and write about my day so far. Eventually, my friend Raphael from BU caught up to me, and we walked out down Clarendale Ave until it crossed Tremont St till we found the restaurant.
I had called earlier to reserve a place and requested a specific server (for reasons I will explain in a bit). When we came in, my reservation had gone through, though we had to wait a little. I was surprised at how busy the place was on a Wednesday night, which must have meant it was tasty. The friend Raphael and I were waiting on, Donald, finally arrived, and after just a little more waiting, we were able to get a seat.
With the special server I requested.
I hadn't seen Donald since before he spent his semester abroad in London last fall, so we clearly had a lot to talk about. As for Raphael, he and I had already had a catch-up dinner not too long ago, but it was nice to see him nonetheless!
Oh yeah another reason I decided to write this entry was because the chain of Gratitude Challenge entries was getting kind of monotonous.
Since it's way past my normal bedtime, I'm not going to Zumba tomorrow. Thus, I conclude this entry. Good night!
So I have this thing on Evernote called "the surrogate journal" which is what it sounds like. Today, I found myself talking about my day so far on it, as I had my laptop with me and was sitting around waiting. I figure I'll copy and paste what I typed out, and then continue the entry after I left out because boy, was it a fun evening. Here goes!
le 6 avril 2016
Arthur Kleinman came and gave a guest lecture to our anthro class today! This makes the second class he’s spoken in front of that I’ve been in. Today, it was about a modern application of Weber’s theories. The readings for it were actually really good, and resonated with me a lot. They talked about social suffering, and how to deal with human misery that occurs as a result of pre-existing structures rather than natural disasters, war, or epidemics. I feel like I have been somewhat exposed to this, but not on a more profound level like he has and like he writes about; I do hope one day to be able to work with these issues, though. I especially liked how impassioned he was about putting findings from social science studies into action. That’s exactly what I was hoping to do with anthro. It’s good for me now to be able to get all this exposure and take advantage of all these opportunities as an anthro concentrator, but I’m hoping in the future to apply this knowledge in somehow improving the lives of people I work with. I obviously gave up on, or rather, changed my mind about the practical medicine way of doing that, but I know for sure there are other ways I can make an impact on people. Something that would take a deep understanding of their lived experiences, knowing how to take that and applying it into some kind of social reform that would make lasting improvements. Really, his speech was so inspiring. When I heard it, it made me think that that was what I wanted to be doing with my life, even if he didn’t give any specifics. He talked about how there will always be human misery, this perpetual negativity, but that we should all aim to at least change it even in a little way. I haven’t seen that much. There is much more I have yet to see and more lives have yet to touch mine, and I was already vaguely considering what Kleinman brought up, but now I feel like I have more purpose and even more pride in what it is I’m studying at Harvard (if that was possible). What am I even writing anymore. I’m just sitting here at this statue in the Amtrak Back Bay Station, feeling the occasional rumble of the metro beneath me. Oh well, this saves me time from having to write later and all I’ll have to do is scribble, “Written in surrogate journal.” (Wait, as well as what happens after I stop typing in this too.) Anyway, I had the usual tiring Wednesday. We had a small test in Polish, which was actually not that bad because what we had to do was write sentences that included words given in a list. There were some whose meaning I completely forgot (but won’t after getting the tests back), but at least I was able to–
(At this point I had to put my laptop away because I ended up meeting up with a friend I was supposed to see, so I'll continue it here, in a much less "block-paragraph" format (that's just how I write in my journals).)
–make up some sentences.
This evening, I had planned to meet up with two good friends from Boston University for tapas at a place in the South End of Boston called Barcelona Wine Bar & Restaurant. I arrived around thirty minutes early for our rendezvous at the Amtrak Back Bay Station, so I found a place to sit, take out my laptop, and write about my day so far. Eventually, my friend Raphael from BU caught up to me, and we walked out down Clarendale Ave until it crossed Tremont St till we found the restaurant.
I had called earlier to reserve a place and requested a specific server (for reasons I will explain in a bit). When we came in, my reservation had gone through, though we had to wait a little. I was surprised at how busy the place was on a Wednesday night, which must have meant it was tasty. The friend Raphael and I were waiting on, Donald, finally arrived, and after just a little more waiting, we were able to get a seat.
With the special server I requested.
To put a long story short, this is my friend/celebrity crush Luis. He's Bolivian (of course). I specifically went to that restaurant so I could take photographs of him being a waiter for a project I have in my Spanish class. I suppose I'll talk more about the project another time, so I'll write instead about being able to meet up with my friends and have tapas in general, and to post a few pictures because I took advantage of the fact that a friend had lent me an actual camera (and not just a camera with a built-in phone).
It was really nice to be able to make another random escape from the Harvard bubble and to spend time with friends from another school, who were also Filipino at that.
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| Donald |
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| Raphael |
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| Me for good measure |
The three of us spent the night eating the variety of delicious tapas we had ordered, gawking at Luis' beauty, sharing updates, talking about Filipino things, and overall having a great time. Here's some of the things we ate. I admit I spoiled myself a bit tonight, but hey, it was so worth it and well-deserved!
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| Some kind of steak thing? |
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| Patatas bravas- classic. My favorite tapa :') |
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| Flan catalan (to remind us of leche flan!) and these crêpes that I'm pretty sure had dulce de leche in them... |
Lol, kids from former Spanish colonies all chilling in a Spanish restaurant. That aside, it was also a really nice reminder of the times I spent in Barcelona, whether it be the first time I visited 6 years ago with some kids from my middle school, or the last time I was there, 3 years ago with exchange students. Wonder where and with whom I'll be eating tapas next?
Anyway, I gained Luis two more fans tonight, and also stayed up way later than normal. I didn't get back to campus until around 10:45 and still had work to do, which I stayed in Cabot Café doing while sipping an iced vanilla latte (which explains why, at 1:55 am, I still haven't collapsed onto my bed).
The idea of collapsing onto my bed does sound appealing, though. Good thing I don't have to write much in my journal tonight!
Oh yeah another reason I decided to write this entry was because the chain of Gratitude Challenge entries was getting kind of monotonous.
Since it's way past my normal bedtime, I'm not going to Zumba tomorrow. Thus, I conclude this entry. Good night!
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