It is Over

My final projects are almost done. One more paper and one more presentation. It means this session is almost over. To be honest, I'm looking forward to finishing this session because I'm getting tired of studying English. Since I came to Vancouver and started studying at the ELI last summer, I have been studying only English for a year. I'm glad that I have this chance to study English since I wanted to study abroad for a long time. I also have learned a lot about not only English but also different cultures, histories, and so on. I have been studying much more than when I was in university. this session was especially hard for me because my reading and writing classes are in 600 level.

This 600W class is definitely one of my favorite classes. there are not many students, so I felt so confortable and liked this blog assignment. We usually don't have a chance to read our classmates' writing, but throught their writing, we can learn each other and know them well. I really enjoyed this class! Thank you everyone and Nathan! :)

London Riot and The Destructors

An riot happened in London, England about a week ago as every one knows. A few young people started this riot first, but it spreaded out all the city then and lasted few days. Police arrested more than 200 people, who were mostly young people, after three days rioting in London. At the same time, in the short story, "The Destructors", a young kinds gang planned destroying a house of Mr. Thomas, and they did it. From these two stories, I can tell that how young people are powerful and active. They seem to be weak and not having power in society; however, when they decide to do something, especially against society or powerful groups, they are able to defeat the groups in their ways. An riot is a good example because the young people don't have a power if they are their own, but when they gather each other and take an action, they would be stronger than older people. Therefore, what we can learn from the stories is that people should listen to young people and include them in society.

Time is Coming

This session is almost over. I'm looking forward to finishing it because I need a vacation and want to enjoy Vancouver summer without concerning about studying. At the same time, however, my staying in Canada is also finishing. I have almost one month left here actually but don't feel I'm going back to Japan. Most of my friends talk about going back to their countries soon these days, but I feel I'm sad because they are going back to the countries, not because I'm also going back. I have seen many friends off for a year, so I feel I will be here. (Maybe because most of them are going back before me) I'm looking forward to going back to Japan because I want to see my friends, but I will miss here for sure.

Summary: The Riddle of Experience VS Memory

When people think about happiness, everyone wants to be happy, but it is sometimes difficult. In the lecture, Daniel explains that why it is hard is because of traps. There are three main cognitive traps which are reluctance to admit complexity, a confusion between experience and memory, and the focusing on illusion.

Many people think experience and memory are same but acutually different. The main difference between them is the vision between experiencing self and remembering self. Experiencing self is living in the present, and remembering self is living in the past; for instance, if s/he feels bad in the end of the experience, the whole memory changes to bad memory even though it is a good experience in the beginning. So that, remembering self is moreinportant than experience self.