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A letter to my fresher self

4 Feb

Dear my fresher self,

Congratulations for choosing to study English and History, I know that careful decision took a long time. You’ve been accepted at Leeds and secured the accommodation you wanted at Clarence Dock. It must feel like you have everything worked out. That’s nice. Four years later you’ll have an arts degree under your belt yet still no grand life plan. Whatever people tell you, not knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life at 21 really is OK.

Packing for the big move…

My first year student halls

Despite choosing a Northern university you will spend most of your degree socialising with Southerners who talk about how great London is. In your final year, you will meet employers at networking events who will tell you about the benefits of moving to London and about how great London is. Be prepared to defend the North, love.

Don’t rush out to buy any of the set texts- especially not from the almighty rip-off that is Blackwells- find the books in the library or get them cheap on amazon.

There was really no need to email your tutor about missing the welcome lecture. Nobody takes attendance there, just a heads up.

Students can be…how should I put it…ruthless individuals. If you are late removing your laundry from the washing machine by even a minute you will find your freshly washed clothes gathering dust on the floor.

Carnage is the most overpriced, overhyped and despicable sequence of events that could possibly be strung together in exchange for your precious money. It won’t do your bank account, your waistline, your self-esteem or your general well being any good. Please, just, don’t go.

Stop buying new fancy dress items for every fancy dress night out. That’s not what your student loan is for. Geek glasses and some face paint will suffice.

The Hidden Café is not a cutesy little coffee place you discovered by the miracle of getting lost in Freshers’ week. It is the most conspicuous place on campus to take your laptop, eat overpriced lunches and pretend that you are working.

There’s a corridor that connects the Edward Boyle library to the Roger Stevens Building- yes, really. Find it and use it- unless you in fact prefer climbing 10 flights of stairs and arriving at all of your English lectures sweating.

After your first year you’ll go on a life-changing trip to Costa Rica, during which staying in the jungle will make you feel as if you could conquer any living situation life will throw at you. But living in a below average student house with a broken boiler through the winter months in Leeds will make you drastically reconsider that statement.

During your third year you’ll find yourself in South Carolina, enjoying a whirlwind year of cowboy boots and sweet tea, country music and American football, rock-climbing and travelling all over the US: basically having more fun and learning more life lessons than the rest of your university years combined. You’ll also hear about how great London is from Americans who went there once when they were 12. Savour that year, because time flies faster than a Gamecock when you’re studying abroad.

Returning to Leeds for a final year spent in the library will feel like the world’s biggest comedown. It is. The study abroad blues never go away, especially when you insist on putting peanut butter and jam on your porridge every morning. Make sure you stick to your hobbies and passions more tightly than ever before during fourth year, as you’ll need them in order to feel like a sane human being who is more than just a degree.

If I had to end with one piece of advice for your impending university experience, it would be to make it yours. Don’t get sucked in to what everyone else might be doing, because comparison kills joy. Don’t compete with anybody but your former self: know your own values, priorities and goals and focus on exceeding those. Student life is your precious time to start figuring out who you’re going to be, so make it yours and get stuck in.

Tags: 21st century, Abroad, advice, America, British, confidence, degree, English, fresher, History, identity, learn, Leeds, mistakes, South Carolina, Student, Student life, University, USC

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Categories Student Life In Leeds

Top 5 moments my study abroad year made me a stronger person

26 Oct

There are times in life that push you beyond your comfort zone. Those are moments that cross a line you’ve never stepped over before, the ones that break new and unfamiliar ground. While at the time you might feel overwhelmed, confused or that you’ll never see the light at the end of the tunnel, eventually you’ll cross the Rubicon and look over your shoulder at all the hurdles you’ve overcome.

It’s those defining moments in life that have made me a richer, stronger and more accomplished individual and I’ve never gone through more of them than during my study abroad year in South Carolina.

Here are the top five moments that my study abroad year made me a stronger person:

Day one: saying goodbye

Saying goodbye to my boyfriend, my family and my friends before I departed for South Carolina was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Not only was I nervous about the prospect of flying to the USA alone and having to make a completely new life for myself, but I was terrified by the possibility that my trans-Atlantic absence would cause my cherished relationships to grow apart.

If that momentous plunge into the unknown wasn’t enough to make my knees buckle at the airport, arriving in Columbia without any of my suitcases added an unwelcome logistical nightmare to my long-haul emotional exhaustion.

Battling against the worst case of the flu I’ve ever had

Two days before my new friends and I were set to depart for a weekend trip to Asheville, North Carolina, I woke up with a debilitating case of the flu. It turned out to be the worst case I’ve ever had to date—my body ached, my eyes were stinging, my head was searing and then ice cold and I was waking up shuddering and covered in sweat in the middle of the night.

The only time I left the flat was to traipse through South Carolina’s first batch of snowfall in decades to visit the doctors. When I got there, I had to stick a swab up my nostrils and pay $50 for Tamiflu, which turned out to make me vomit. Needless to say, I never made it to Asheville.

Post-Christmas homesickness

While I didn’t experience much homesickness during my first semester, when I returned to South Carolina after a brief Christmas in England, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was looking at my American surroundings with a British cultural appetite, just wishing I could curl up in a pub drinking mulled wine and eating mince pies with my loved ones at home.

No matter how incredible South Carolina was, I was still yearning for British home comforts and familiarity.

Contracting gastroenteritis in the Arizona desert

At the end of my study abroad year I decided to take a group tour through California, Arizona and Nevada with a group of 12 people I’d never met. By day three I contracted gastroenteritis, a common bug that causes the stomach and intestines to become inflamed. Anyone who has battled through it will have spent at least 24 hours projectile vomiting and running to the bathroom to cope with severe diarrhoea.

Lucky for me, I contracted the notorious bug in the middle of a six-hour drive through the Arizona desert. No gas stations, no bathrooms, just a single road ahead surrounded by distant mountains and dust devils dancing along the horizon. We spent the afternoon stopping and starting the minivan as I launched myself out of the door to vomit on yet another helpless Joshua tree.

Having my laptop stolen in LA

When I returned to LA on the last day of my trip around the West Coast, raring to Skype home and tell my family and friends about all of my trekking tales, I came back to our hotel to discover that my laptop had been stolen.

While my new friends spent their last evening together exploring Hollywood and indulging in all-American food at the Hard Rock Café, I spent my night getting crime reference numbers at the LAPD station and calling home to try and find my laptop receipt.
While looking back down the road can be a painful trip down memory lane, revisiting these moments fills me with an immense sense of pride and gratitude. If it weren’t for my year in the States, I wouldn’t have learned that, despite everything, I have the inner strength and resolve to carry on when life gets tough.

These are the defining moments I talk about in job interviews. When an employer says “tell me about a time in your life when you had to use initiative,” I now have a bank of memories and experiences to draw from to demonstrate my energy, resilience and independence.

Above all else—isn’t that what studying abroad is all about?

This article has also been published by The News Hub and Verge Magazine

Tags: Abroad, America, American, Arizona, challenge, Exchange, life, South Carolina, stronger, struggle, Student, test, travel

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Categories Student Life in South Carolina, Travel

10 lifestyle habits I’ve picked up while studying abroad in the US

18 Jul

This blog has also been featured on The Guardian’s Blogging Students website, and can be found here: http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2014/jul/17/10-american-habits-studying-abroad-students

My blog on The Guardian website

As university friends studying business, finance and law started gaining seriously impressive internships and ‘year in industry’ placements in September 2012, I decided that, as an English and History student, there had to be some way to boost my CV and become more employable.

I shopped around, scanning the university website for opportunities to fit the bill. Four months later I’d completed my application to study abroad in the states, and it turned out to be the best decision of my life.

A dozen chicken wings, listed on the menu as a ‘starter’

So for the past year I’ve abandoned my familiar Leeds student lifestyle for an exchange year at the University of South Carolina. I swapped nightclubs for frat parties, my small student house for American dorms, Yorkshire Tea for sweet tea, fish and chips for Southern fried chicken and afternoons at the pub for afternoons on a sun lounger at the outdoor pool.

Many of my study abroad friends who ventured to foreign language countries were sceptical about the degree to which social customs would be different in America. But from the moment I touched down in Columbia, South Carolina, I knew I had an eye-opening adventure ahead of me.

Here are ten lifestyle habits that I’ve picked up since being on exchange in the Appalachian South:

Tipping

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Eating out with friends in San Francisco’s Little Italy

In the US, service staff members earn their keep largely through tips, so visiting a restaurant or bar without leaving a tip is considered hugely disrespectful. Thanks to this American social custom, I’ve returned to the UK much more willing to give away those extra few pounds at the end of my meal.

Using weekends to travel

Rockclimbing in Alabama

With America’s endless travelling opportunities just waiting to be explored, I used the weekdays to study hard, and the weekends to pack my bags and tick some more states off my to-see list.

Being OK with driving insanely long hours

When I did pack my bags for the weekend, I had to mentally prepare myself for the long car journey ahead. As Americans don’t have the same level of public transport resources as British students do, they’re much more accustomed to driving long hours across the interstate to get to where they want to be.

Planning my social life around sports games

Watching Clowney and the Gamecocks at Williams-Brice stadium

If ever I didn’t travel at the weekend, I’d be watching live sports. The university football team played in a stadium just short of Wembley’s capacity, and with free tickets for students, the weekly dose of American football was considered an unmissable social event.

Choosing comfort over style

A classic day-to-day choice

The go-to daily attire in the intense South Carolinian heat and humidity was a nonchalant Nike Shorts (‘Norts’) and baggy t-shirt combination. It was also immediately apparent that checked shirts (or ‘flannel shirts’) are readily accepted at any social occasion. If in doubt, flannel out.

Embracing team spirit

Cuddles with Cocky

When I first arrived in the US I felt a typical British reluctance towards American patriotism and team spirit. By the end of my year I’d become swept away in the fun, sporting team colours to classes and queuing for photos with the university mascot.

Expressing happiness with the word ‘blessed’

Perhaps it was because I studied in the Bible belt, or because Americans embrace upbeatisms more readily than we Brits do, but I heard locals express happiness with the word ‘blessed’ on a daily basis. I even saw a car license plate that read ‘Bless3d’. Since returning to England I’ve caught myself using the word on several occasions.

Solving any remotely difficult situation by grabbing frozen yoghurt

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Fro-yo

Forget grabbing a coffee or putting the kettle on as ways to unwind at the end of the day. The nearest frozen yoghurt café was a regular haunt for students looking for a midweek treat.

Speaking up in lectures

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English classes at USC

As class participation often counts for large percentages of final grades in American institutions, over the past year I’ve become a lot more vocal about my thoughts during classes. I’m looking forward to seeing how my renewed, Americanised verbal skills will fit back in to British lectures and seminars in my final year.

Going with the flow

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Halfway through the 8-hour Bright Angel Trail, grand Canyon, AZ

This probably says more about the overall experience of being an international exchange student rather than American social customs, but since studying abroad in America I’ve become a pro at going with the flow. The study abroad experience can be pretty unpredictable at times, so rather than worrying about trying to have a plan for everything, my new favourite phrase is ‘Let’s play it by ear’.

Tags: American, Arizona, British, california, Cocky, driving, Exchange, Gamecocks, Grand Canyon, Nevada, South Carolina, Student, study abroad, tipping, travel, year

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Categories Listicles, Student Life in South Carolina, Travel

What reverse culture shock really feels like

15 Jul

Every exchange student will have a different study abroad experience. At my pre-departure meeting in Leeds I was presented with a graph that plotted the supposed emotional stages an exchange student goes through over the course of their year abroad. Peaks and troughs varied from obvious phases of ‘anticipation’ and ‘adapting’ to an ominous-sounding ‘disintegration’ phase that left me wondering just how turbulent the emotional rollercoaster ahead was going to be.

While some of the phases have been extremely real, not once have they been linear enough to be plotted on a graph. I was homesick while I was still adapting. I was culture-shocked while I was hyperactively excited. I enjoyed my newfound independence during the same week that I Skyped home every single day.

Of all the predictions and insight that the graph gave me, I never gave reverse culture shock much thought. How I’d be feeling after the year ahead was the least of my concerns. I was signed up and checked in with a visa appointment at the London embassy waiting down the line. Thinking about how I would feel in over a year’s time felt as distant and unreachable as it does to look back to my pre-departure days now.

On reflection, reverse culture shock has been the hardest transition of all. I say ‘on reflection’ because it is only now, five weeks after I returned to England, that I have fully recovered and emerged from the tidal wave of readjustment that has consumed me for the passing weeks.

New York

Exchange students returning home from their beloved host countries are meant to go through ‘initial excitement’, followed by a ‘judgmental stage’, ‘realisation’, ‘frustration’ and finally ‘balanced re-adaptation’ to home life.

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The Grand Canyon

The initial excitement to go home is like anticipating a high-school reunion from behind a plate of glass. You’re not there yet, and you can’t materialise it, but you have a million and one hypothetical guesses about what it might be like, and what might have changed. The only thing that softened the blow of heart-breaking goodbyes in America was the sweet, sweet lure of England and everything that I love within it- friends and loved ones, Yorkshire Tea, curry, pubs and sarcasm. But the prospect of plunging back into my British past and reconciling it with the realities of my American present was tinged by a nagging anxiety that I had no idea just how hard that reconciliation was going to be.

Getting reacquainted with my beloved Yorkshire tea

The judgmental stage is like seeing your home community through a veil of cultural snobbery. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I was seeing British sights through an American lens and making a mental note of everything that didn’t agree with my Americanised cultural appetite. I visited a sports goods shop shortly after I returned home and couldn’t help but compare the nonchalant grunts of the staff to the upbeat, optimistic and high-pitched enthusiasm of Americans I met all over the states. Welcome back to England, where the customer is never right.

The realisation stage is a numbing experience. I started to notice changes in my surroundings and in myself all the time. Everywhere I looked, everyone I met, everywhere I went I was realising how things have changed, how they’re different to America, and the small handful of things that have stayed the same. It was a fascinating but overwhelming time that left me feeling stupefied by the sheer immensity of it all.

The frustration stage is like missing an ex-partner from the regretful embrace of a rebound. I tried to find all the things I love about America in England, and it backfired. Instead of seeing England and America as lovable in their own unique ways, I went round in circles trying to push the wooden triangle block into the square hole. No matter how many times I clicked through my photo albums on Facebook, the year had been and gone.

Urban Dictionary defines ‘Zen’ as the following:

“A total state of focus that incorporates a total togetherness of body and mind. Zen involves dropping illusion and seeing things without distortion created by your own thoughts.”

My first drink in a British beer garden after my year in SC

This is the balanced re-adaptation to home life. It is a kind of clarity, a peacefulness, a state of calm and mostly, a serene sense of happiness that I’ve never had before.

My first curry night back with my family

We will never be able to recreate the year in all it’s glory. It was a unique coming-together of people and circumstances, of badly-timed beer pong and country music, of $2 margaritas and long road trips. But that’s what makes the study abroad experience so life-affirming and beautiful. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

After weeks of feeling displaced, resentful and bitter about home life, the final stage is like taking that first deep breath after a workout. The one that really fills your lungs. It’s a sigh of relief and a sense of comfort that you haven’t had for an entire year. It’s the immense feeling of achievement in being able to say that you did it, you overcame the hurdles, mastered your new surroundings and returned home stronger than ever before, with hundreds of stories to tell.

Tags: adaptation, balance, Carolina, culture shock, England, Exchange, frustration, judgemental, Leeds, return, South Carolina, study abroad, transition, weekend trips

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Categories Student Life In Leeds, Student Life in South Carolina, Travel

The ultimate to-do list for outgoing study abroad students

14 Jun

When I found out I’d been accepted to study at the University of South Carolina, all I wanted to do was find out about all the crazy, diverse and eye-opening opportunities I’d be able to get my hands on once I arrived. But standing in the way of all that excitement was a whirlwind of stress, in the form of visa requirements, bank transfers, phone calls, appointments with the study abroad office, and paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. It’s the first time in my life I’d seriously considered hiring a PA. I just wished I had a comprehensive checklist of all the things I had to do before that nerve-racking departure came creeping up behind me. Without further ado, here’s my attempt to provide exactly that for those of you lucky enough to have the adventure of your lives ahead of you.

Book a visa appointment at your local embassy. If you’re studying abroad in a country that requires a visa, make booking your visa appointment over the summer holidays a top priority as the slots fill up fast. If possible, try and get a morning slot, as it means the waiting times in the embassy are likely to be shorter and backlog free.
Unlock your phone. Go into your local network provider’s shop and request to unlock your handset for a small fee. It means that once you arrive in your host country, you will be able to buy and use a new sim card in your old device without having to fork out for a new phone.
Keep receipts for major items that you’ll be taking abroad. If any of these items get lost, damaged or stolen during your time abroad, you’ll be able to claim for them on your insurance policy without having to worry about finding proof of purchase.
Buy travel and health insurance. At some host universities, you are required to purchase the university insurance that is often expensive (USC’s insurance was over $800 a semester), but in most cases you are eligible to waive the policy and purchase your own. Start this process as soon as possible as it can be paperwork and email-intensive.
Request a copy of your medical and vaccination history from your local doctor’s for a small fee. Most host universities require this in order to fully accept your place abroad. Don’t forget to get all outstanding jabs if required, too.
If your study abroad year is not compulsory, submit your change of degree programme form to your parent school. Once I had been accepted to study abroad, my degree title changed from ‘English and History’ to ‘International English and History’, and my parent school needed to know in order to revise my graduation date.
Notify student finance services that you are studying abroad so that you will have those all-important funds for the next year. With all those weekend trips ahead of you, you’ll need it.
Enrol for modules at your host institution. If your year is on a pass/fail basis, think about trying something new while you have the freedom to do so without being penalized. Humanities students- it looks especially impressive on your CV if you choose to study something related to your host country or new local area.
Let your bank know that you’re going abroad.
If you already haven’t, get internet banking. It makes life a whole lot easier to manage and transfer funds when you’re on the other side of the world.
If you don’t have a credit or debit card that will work free of charge while abroad, get a currency card. You can get these from travel agencies like Thomas Cook, and they allow you to load a temporary card with as much $$$ as you like, to tide you over until you get a bank account in your host institution.
If there is a networking event at your home institution- GO TO IT. I met all of the other Leeds students studying at USC when I went to mine, and we remained friends for the whole year.
Sort out accommodation in your host country. If you are going to be automatically enrolled for housing in university halls, start thinking about whether you’d like to be on campus, and whether you’d like a roommate.
Submit disability and health forms. If you have any major disability or health complications your host institution must know about this ASAP.
Find out about student counseling services at your host institution. Should anything untoward happen, or you receive bad news from home while you’re abroad, you’ll know where to go if you need extra support.
Look into bursaries, scholarships and competitions that offer money for outgoing study abroad students. From the perspective of an ex-study abroad student who has just come home to depleted funds, take my word that you’ll be glad for all the financial help you can get.
Check your passport validity.
Book your outgoing flight. If you can avoid it, don’t book your return flight for the end of the semester or the year. If you do, you’ll be consigned to a definite end date when many of your new friends will be making exciting travel plans. In addition, consider flying over a couple of days earlier than your move-in date and staying in a hotel. This is useful if you’d like some time to recover from jetlag and open a bank account overseas before orientation sessions begin.
Check baggage allowance. If you are going for the year and would like to take two suitcases, an extra one usually costs around £80-£100.
Take your railcard, bus passes, Oyster card and any other travel passes with you. You might need these when travelling home for Christmas, or at the end of the year.
Get to know your study abroad mentor from your host institution over the phone or via email. Getting to know a real person on the other side of the world who is there to help with the transition is an indispensable way to reduce pre-departure anxieties.
Register with your home university. Even though you’re going abroad, you still need to renew your registration for the upcoming year at home.
Pay outstanding library fines. You’ll be depressed enough coming home at the end of the year without having to come home to library debts.
Collect and print evidence of your return home. Many embassies and airport authorities like to see (and require) evidence that you will be returning home at the end of the year. This could be job forms, your registration certificate from university or anything that states you won’t be graduating for another year.
Scan all paperwork and print 2 copies. Leave one set with someone you trust at home, and take the other set with you.
If you are going to America, and like drinking tea, take a box of teabags with you. The strongest tea you’re going to find out there is Twinings, and that’s practically tea-flavoured milkshake.
Download the app ‘1 Second Everyday’ and document your time abroad. Every second will be unforgettable, and you’ll want to re-live the experience when you return home.
Start a blog. It’s a cathartic way to document your study abroad experience and the perfect opportunity to enhance your CV. Blog about your fears, hopes and expectations. Blog about the locals. Blog about sorority life. Blog about culture, art and about people. Blog about blogging if you have to.
Think about what you want from the year. Some people see the year as an opportunity to work as little as possible, and party HARD. Others see it as a chance to radically transform their CVs, integrate within a new culture, enhance global employability, and get involved with extra-curricular life. What will you regret not doing the most?

Tags: 1 Second Everyday, Abroad, America, blog, embassy, England, Leeds, life, list, packing, paperwork, party, South Carolina, Student, study abroad, suitcase, Thomas Cook, travel, visa

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Categories Student Life In Leeds, Student Life in South Carolina, Travel

Top ten life lessons learned while studying abroad

13 Jun

I recently returned from my exchange year at the University of South Carolina. Study abroad years are notoriously well known for being similar to gap years, placing emphasis on immense personal development rather than academic growth and attainment. For this reason, my past year, and those of many other students around the world, have been judged on a pass/fail basis. So after the party’s over, the beer pong tables are a mess, camera rolls are brimming with glitzy pictures, friends have parted ways and events of the past year start to feel like an idyllic dream- is there anything left behind? Here are my top ten deep and meaningful life lessons from the past year that thrust a confident ‘yes’ in the face of that all-important question.

10. If you like or love a person, let them know. Life’s too short to be shy.

9. Life without laughter is no life at all.

8. Money can buy you nice things, but some nice things are nicer than others. Would you rather buy yourself more clothes, or save up for a weekend trip in the great outdoors with your friends?

7. There’s a fine line between assertiveness and confrontation- but it’s an important one. Assertiveness- especially for young women- is crucial to holding your head above water.

6. Life is not meant for spending every day in the gym. When you reflect back on life, will you be happy that you had a hot body, or that you read books, travelled, got outdoors and spent time with loved ones?

5. Alcohol is not necessary for a good time. When you find friends that make you laugh until your stomach hurts, being drunk isn’t important.

4. You can be friends with people even if you’re completely different. Having made friends from all over the world this year, I’ve come to realise that the best friendships are the ones that make me see the world in a new light.

3. Sometimes there isn’t a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ decision- there’s just the decision that, on reflection, that will leave you with the least regrets.

2. People are the best thing in life.

1. Martin Luther King once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” It may not feel like it at the time, but the hardest times in life are learning experiences that come to define the residue that is left behind after life’s luck and fortune have evaporated.

Tags: friends, friendship, gap year, happiness, laughter, learning, lessons, life, love, overcome, personal development, South Carolina, study abroad, travel

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Categories Culture & lifestyle, Listicles, Student Life in South Carolina, Travel

On the importance of humour

10 Apr

This semester I’ve taken a senior seminar about suffrage and women’s rights, and have been fortunate enough to meet and interview incredibly influential feminists from the women’s movement in South Carolina. These women are from different creeds, different backgrounds and fought for various different rights within the feminist movement. But a resounding message that surfaced from these interviews touched upon a particular life lesson that I have found especially worthwhile.

We asked one of our esteemed guests how she chose to deal with gritty disputes and confrontation. She responded forcefully, “Never, ever, forget to use humour. You have to try on different styles and see what works for you, but I chose to approach confrontation with humour. I’ve had men come up to me, yelling, and calling me a bitch. I used to respond with, ‘Well if life’s a bitch, so am I.’”

Call it wit, call it sass, call it a pinch of salt, call it banter, satire, or flair- whatever you call it, there’s no doubt that using humour in politics is an enormously beneficial skill. Winston Churchill, the stalwart bulldog of British politics once said, “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to Hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

Responding to opposition through equally derogatory slights- even if they deserve it- will always blacken your own reputation before it exposes their ill repute. But responding to opposition with humour maintains a level of dignity, intellect and style that rises above cheap and petty insults.

After I met with the South Carolinian feminists, it occurred to me that the importance of humour is not simply confined to the world of politics. As a viewpoints columnist, I often have to write about potentially provocative topics without adding provocation or causing offense. Renaissance philosopher Desiderus Erasmus mused over this topic, “I long ago persuaded myself to keep my writings clean of personal invective and uncontaminated by insults. I wanted to mock, not to attack, to benefit, not to wound; to comment on men’s manners, not to denounce them.” Using humour in writing allows writers to get their point across in an entertaining, skillful and sharp way while keeping their reputation and grace in tact.

This valuable lesson also applies to the modern world of social media. Nowadays, when celebrities’ lives are thrust into the public eye, they come into contact with unscrupulous criticism on a daily basis. But the best comebacks are the ones that throw wit and banter in the face of ignorance and discrimination. Leading actress from the 2009 film ‘Precious’, Gabourey Sidibe, replied to criticism about her Golden Globes outfit by tweeting “To people making mean comments about my GG pics, I mos def cried about it on that private jet on my way to my dream job last night.” Humour breaks the tension, lightens the tone, and challenges ignorance to think outside the box.
President Pastides recently showed the USC community that he has a fun-loving sense of humour, when he endorsed the satirical front-page story about his sporting enthusiasm in the April Fools’ edition of The Daily Gamecock. Whether it’s politics, speech, writing, social media or simply daily life, a little humour goes a long way. The feminists of South Carolina reminded me that of everything we learn at university, not all of life’s most important lessons can be taught by the book.

Tags: argument, celebrity, conflict, confrontation, feminists, gabourey sidibe, golden globes, humour, outfit, politics, satire, seminar, South Carolina, speech, tweet, winston churchill, wit, writing

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Categories Academia, Culture & lifestyle

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puravidastudent

A letter to my fresher self