By William Westerman
Perhaps the title above can illuminate some of the very intense struggles I have been facing recently.
It begins in August, the beginning of the school year, and my first experiences with the TCNJ I-House (you all know who you are, Kim may be the only one reading this…G’dday).
Kim at the edge of campus
It is difficult to begin this post, as so many things have happened over the course of one month, so perhaps I’ll list for brevity’s sake: eating non-greasy food with athletes in T-Dubbs, making personalized logos and playing camp games during orientation, seductively lounging at the Princeton fountain, close encounters with the Naked Cowboy and NYC, an alcohol-free barbeque, a rainy movie night, (unsuccessfully) learning Thai, mingling with some of TCNJ’s biggest celebrities (I assure you non-believers that President Gitenstein actually does exist), many Eickoff dinners, and furious games of beach volleyball.
Moreover, as self-described “cultural partners” for our friends from around the globe, we have been taking our job of American acculturation very seriously. Indeed, we have made sure that coffee is being pronounced in the vernacular, as “caw-fee,” and that everyone knows the dialogue to the movie Grease. We’ve also been effectively training the students in the newest styles of dance (Step 1: Move uncomfortably close to another person and begin to gyrate your hips into any of their swimsuit areas, Step 2: Repeat), and hope to put our skills to good use soon. It has been a tumultuous month, but we believe our superior knowledge and patience has integrated these naïve individuals into the fabric of upstanding American society.
No Comment
If this sounds like a busy first month of school…you would be correct. For the majority of every waking hour, we have been in some sort of contact with any number of I-House-ers. So, pardon my surprise when I realize that being a student also includes academic responsibilities. Enjoying myself, am I? Maybe a fresh 74% on my first paper of the semester gives you insight into one of the deepest academic falls of my career. (And just because my professor felt the need to point out my incorrect use of “sophisticated” vocabulary, I shall utilize to the fullest extent a deepening array of immature phrases to superfluously elevate the elegance of mine prose, m’lord). Is this a wake-up call?
Perhaps yes and no. Yes, it is my goal to get A’s on every paper and be a model student and be commended and so forth (and not use run on sentences with little punctuation) but I also want to learn. For all of our concern on making the grade, how many of us actively care about learning? (Maybe you do, and this just shows more of my ignorance…moving rapidly along). It seems to me, somewhat unfairly, that at a time of youth and a chance to experience people from around the world, I am being penalized from learning too much, or, more dangerously, learning in a non-traditional setting. Which, to me, maybe wrongly, constitutes some of the allure of going to college: to learn about strange, new things in a supportive environment. If I do this by engaging in a conversation with someone from the other side of the world, or by reading the struggles of writers of minority status, and yet fail to achieve an A, is my knowledge somehow demoted? Are we to conclude that learning for personal enrichment is only to be viewed as necessary if it does not interfere with the calculation of major core requirements and GPA standards? Because then, perhaps, we are being taught the wrong things.
Or perhaps, I waited to write my paper the night before it was due.
Being seductive at the fountains
Failure, dear grade-grubbers, is a natural and necessary part of life, which I welcome with open arms (pending this failure does not get me kicked out of college). This, I would challenge, (but let’s be honest, your professors have always told you to make mistakes….except on exams, assignments, papers, and anything assigned in the class) makes all the difference. I may not remember the crappy paper I wrote during my sophomore year at the conj, but I will remember mastering (?) the Australian accent, learning that Germans do not always wear lederhosen, and that the Irish are not always leprechauns, nor always (?) drunk.
So, with the rudimentary power I possess over the 12 people who read this blog, I challenge (there is that word again) you to stay out later, eating more cupcakes, and read not because it’s your job, but to enrich your mind and world-view.
And learn the dialogue to Grease.
Until Next Time,
Kill Will Vol. 2 Westerman
P.S. Watanabe-sensei shout-out: 渡辺先生、こんにちは！いい秋学級があるよいいですね。私の日本語は上手じゃなくても、がんばんします．たくさん勉強すれば、日本人のように上手な日本語を話します。このブログコメントはぜんぜんアメリカ人が分かりません。楽しいですね！
William Westerman is currently major-less, but plans on a mixture of English, Japanese, and anything else he can manage. He is currently a resident of the TCNJ International House, and enjoys walking, traveling, walking while traveling, and a host of other infinitely interesting and lengthy hobbies
The Sophomore Year Experience at TCNJ 
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