I guess its official. I'm a blogger. The real question is will I be able to (or want to!) wean myself off it once this semester is over?
I feel that my life in Pittsburgh (or Seattle, for that matter) is much more of a personal thing than my life here in Qatar. It is about connecting with people I've known for quite a while and having adventures based on my interactions with them.
Here, it is about having adventures that are so completely different from what I would do back in the U.S. And these adventures seem note-worthy because they are so different (or surprisingly similar)!
Maybe, as we talked about during this discussion today, I'll have to grow into a different theme for a blog. This summer is going to be an experience in itself, working and researching with the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center and Carnegie Learning. Maybe I'll keep track of my interests in how people learn, or my discover of usability studies and products, or just my experiences as an intern.
The session today was called "Personal Branding and the Web", and it began with a comparison of blogging styles: my daily life blog, Waleed's thoughts and opinions blog, and Yassar's interesting pieces of the internet (in addition to his own thoughts and opinions blog). Then there was the talk about registering your own domain name, like Varun did.
Did I mention that we also talked about search engine optimization? Yeah, getting people to link to your website bumps it up in the search results.
Enough with the serious side of blogging... let's get on to the ARC appreciation dinner tonight!
Marjorie (also a blogger, so one last blog link) is leaving Qatar after her time here with her husband Justin. He has been studying and teaching; she has been a coordinator in the Academic Resource Center where I am a teaching assistant.
She has been a quiet inspiration for me in my time here. I always enjoy my conversations with her, though we've only known each other a short time. I just feel like we have similar ideas about some things.
Such as during the dinner tonight when the faculty sat at one table and the TAs sat at two others. We took the step to desegregate together, and I don't think I've ever had a better conversation about saving yourself from wild animals. And eating silver. (Don't do it. It turns you blue forever.)
Clever awards (with the Qatar version of ramen noodles, called Maggi as prizes) were handed out to many of the senior TAs, including Rishav, Varun, and Aamir.
As for the other TAs... we were just enjoying the food, like always. There weren't any chocolate desserts for Samreen, but I had my first dragonfruit tart. Not the sweetest of fruits, but in that little pie crust... a yummy end.
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