Student Blogs

 Hi, 

My name is Shanaya Acharya and I am in my 3rd year at UBC. I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Commerce. I am originally from Nepal but I have lived in Dubai my whole life and I consider it my home. Fun fact: I also have a twin sister who studies with me at UBC which made the whole process of going off to university a lot more fun and less scary. 

Honestly, I have always been nervous about taking any Literature courses. I have always shied away from literature courses because of how heavy the reading lists are and how difficult the readings can be. Additionally, although I enjoy reading,  I have always found it challenging to write essays evaluating and analyzing what I have read. However, this course really captured my interest because of its diversity in readings and I'm very intrigued to read novels that have divergent origins, such as those from France and Spain and from Africa as well. I am excited to read novels written by men and women from different time periods, exploring a wide range of topics. Even though there are quite a few readings, they seem very interesting and I am excited to explore the differences and similarities between these texts. 

I found it really interesting how, in the lecture, Romance studies was described as "belonging nowhere". I like how we are not being tied down to literatures from specific places and are learning literature in a more global perspective. I also liked how we analyzed "Romance languages". Rather than focusing on their relation to Latin, we focus on how they are diversified themselves away from Latin. Overall, I really liked how the lecture emphasized how Romance languages and learning and reading texts regarding Romance languages is something we can all share and does not have to be solely focused on a certain part of the world. I am excited to explore these texts and learn more about literature from so many various parts of the world. 

I am hoping that by the end of this course, I become more attuned and aware of literature from diverse parts of the world. I am excited to learn about literature stemming from different languages can be so different, yet, so similar as well. I expect this course to make me a more well-rounded individual and hopefully, make me less intimidated and scared to take other literature courses in the future. 

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 Hi, 

My name is Shanaya Acharya and I am in my 3rd year at UBC. I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Commerce. I am originally from Nepal but I have lived in Dubai my whole life and I consider it my home. Fun fact: I also have a twin sister who studies with me at UBC which made the whole process of going off to university a lot more fun and less scary. 

Honestly, I have always been nervous about taking any Literature courses. I have always shied away from literature courses because of how heavy the reading lists are and how difficult the readings can be. Additionally, although I enjoy reading,  I have always found it challenging to write essays evaluating and analyzing what I have read. However, this course really captured my interest because of its diversity in readings and I'm very intrigued to read novels that have divergent origins, such as those from France and Spain and from Africa as well. I am excited to read novels written by men and women from different time periods, exploring a wide range of topics. Even though there are quite a few readings, they seem very interesting and I am excited to explore the differences and similarities between these texts. 

I found it really interesting how, in the lecture, Romance studies was described as "belonging nowhere". I like how we are not being tied down to literatures from specific places and are learning literature in a more global perspective. I also liked how we analyzed "Romance languages". Rather than focusing on their relation to Latin, we focus on how they are diversified themselves away from Latin. Overall, I really liked how the lecture emphasized how Romance languages and learning and reading texts regarding Romance languages is something we can all share and does not have to be solely focused on a certain part of the world. I am excited to explore these texts and learn more about literature from so many various parts of the world. 

I am hoping that by the end of this course, I become more attuned and aware of literature from diverse parts of the world. I am excited to learn about literature stemming from different languages can be so different, yet, so similar as well. I expect this course to make me a more well-rounded individual and hopefully, make me less intimidated and scared to take other literature courses in the future. 

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Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. I would like to start by formally introducing myself. My name is Yasmin and I am second year student majoring in political science with a minor in sociology. I am originally from Afghanistan but immigrated to Canada back in 2009. I have always grown up with reading and writing […] read full post >>

Greetings everyone! My name is Noor and I already graduated back in 2020 and have been working and traveling (mainly within Canada thanks to COVID). I was named after Queen Noor of Jordan, and a fun fact about her is that she was amongst Princeton University’s first female graduates. In my free time I like […] read full post >>

Hello! I’m Katrina and I’m currently in my final year at UBC as a Psychology major. I also currently work as an Early Childhood Educator assistant at a local daycare/early learning/childcare centre. Like many others, I also took this course for my literature (and final!) arts degree requirement. I was a little bit unsure and […] read full post >>

Hi everyone! My name is Tierra and I’m in my second year at UBC. I’m majoring in International Relations and currently trying to decide if I want to minor in Political Science or Economics. The first question people ask when I tell them this is what I plan on doing with my degree, and my […] read full post >>

Hi everyone! My name is Simon Shiwen Liu, and I’m a first year student in the faculty of arts hoping to major in both human geography and international relations. I was born and raised in Jinan, China and later moved to Beijing, China for middle school. I later spent my high school period in Winnipeg, […] read full post >>

Hello! I’m Katrina and I’m currently in my final year at UBC as a Psychology major. I also currently work as an Early Childhood Educator assistant at a local daycare/early learning/childcare centre. Like many others, I also took this course for my literature (and final!) arts degree requirement. I was a little bit unsure and […] read full post >>

Hello! I’m Vidushi and I’m a second-year psychology student in need of a more engaging elective course, which is why... read full post >>

Hi everyone! My name is Michael, and I was born in and lived my whole life around the greater Toronto area. I’m in first-year science and want to major in physics; the dream is to do research in theoretical physics one day. I wanted to take this class mainly because the reading list seemed really […] read full post >>

Hi Everyone! My name is Harshi and I’m a second-year psychology major. I am originally Indian but I grew up... read full post >>

Hello everyone, I’m Brianna and I’m from Toronto. I’m a second-year student hoping to major in political science and hope to go to law school in the future. I have always favorited subjects that are literarily centered. I think that … Continue reading → read full post >>

Hi everyone! My name is Bianca and I’m a second year student trying to get into International Relations. I am from Italy but I have been living on campus for almost two years. Literature has always been a great passion … Continue reading → read full post >>

Hello all! My name is Tirzah, and I am a second-year student here at UBC. Originally I am from Calgary, but I’ve been lucky enough to live on campus here in Vancouver for the last two years. I study music and have been playing the flute for almost 12 years now. In addition to music, … Continue reading Introduction → read full post >>

Hello! 

My name is Lisa Fylypchuk and I am a first year student in the Faculty of Arts. I am in this faculty because I really enjoy classes like politics and philosophy, much more than subjects like science and business. If everything goes well (meaning if I can get the grades), in the future, I hope to major in political science. The plan after that has yet to be determined but I still have time to figure it out since I'm only in first year. 

I was born and raised in Calgary Alberta, just one province over from BC. I chose this university for the quality of education and I am really excited to be studying here. I've only been here one semester so far but I feel I've already learned a lot, not necessarily just in school but also about living independently away from home for the first time. 

I initially considered romance studies solely because I was looking for a class to fulfill my literature requirement, but after reading the course description (and even more so after that first class yesterday), I quickly realized how enjoyable this class was going to be. I love to read but I know how easy it is for leisure reading to go out the window when life gets busy, so I am excited to be enrolled in a class that will challenge me to read as much as I can. I hope that the variety of books that I will be reading in this class allows me to learn something new by introducing me to new ideas. As I was watching the lecture video, I was most intrigued by the discussion on how learning one romance language opens up the door to the other ones. Because I can already speak French, I have noticed that I am able to understand certain words in Italian and Spanish. I think that the link that exists between this family of languages is fascinating and I am very excited to learn more on this topic as the semester continues. 

I hope that this class ends up being as inspiring as I presently believe it's going to be, and I am very much looking forward to getting started with the assigned readings. To conclude, while I hope that this class will challenge my thinking, I also hope that I will be able to have fun in this course and come out on the other side with brighter ideas and a more open mind. 

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