"I was timid about leaving home" I went to the best university I could get in Italy, and it turned out to be for free and 50 miles from home, so I still got to go home every weekend. I'm not sure what I would have done had it been really far.
"The professors were there primarily because they wanted to teach, not because they wanted to get published." That's such a funny thought. In my experience, the professors who were doing research were also by far the best teachers, because they were full of enthusiasm. But then, I never attended courses in the humanities, just mathematics and physics.
And I know what you mean by small classes and individual attention. I had it, and it was wonderful. From the second year on, class size was twenty or lower. In one occasion, two. Five to ten happened often. And everybody knew each other. That's a part of my job I like to this day, I also get to know my students well (class size is 5 to 15).
I must guiltily admit I learned to think (in the sense you use this word) from my husband starting at 24 - and became an atheist over 30. On the other hand, I ended up being as left wing as most of my professors were, even though we never talked politics to each other (and my husband is somewhat more conservative, though still solidly left for US standards).
If you heard me speak, you'd hear what you said, plus the influence of twenty years of talking English with a German spouse. My spoken English is clearly understandable and at the same time totally hilarious. Plus, I speak much much louder than I should. And I move my hands in a very un-British way :-).
"I hasten to say that the fault is with me, and not with the writers!" That's the kind of thing I should learn to say, instead of assuming it's obvious. One of the great things of this community is how much and how nicely it has helped in teaching me manners and politeness. It's still a long way to go, though :-).
And though I can't help being white any more than you can, when I'm in Europe people see I come from somewhere around the Mediterranean even before I speak. Typical guesses (besides the correct one) are Spanish and Turkish.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 06:53 pm (UTC)I went to the best university I could get in Italy, and it turned out to be for free and 50 miles from home, so I still got to go home every weekend. I'm not sure what I would have done had it been really far.
"The professors were there primarily because they wanted to teach, not because they wanted to get published."
That's such a funny thought. In my experience, the professors who were doing research were also by far the best teachers, because they were full of enthusiasm. But then, I never attended courses in the humanities, just mathematics and physics.
And I know what you mean by small classes and individual attention. I had it, and it was wonderful. From the second year on, class size was twenty or lower. In one occasion, two. Five to ten happened often. And everybody knew each other. That's a part of my job I like to this day, I also get to know my students well (class size is 5 to 15).
I must guiltily admit I learned to think (in the sense you use this word) from my husband starting at 24 - and became an atheist over 30. On the other hand, I ended up being as left wing as most of my professors were, even though we never talked politics to each other (and my husband is somewhat more conservative, though still solidly left for US standards).
If you heard me speak, you'd hear what you said, plus the influence of twenty years of talking English with a German spouse. My spoken English is clearly understandable and at the same time totally hilarious. Plus, I speak much much louder than I should. And I move my hands in a very un-British way :-).
"I hasten to say that the fault is with me, and not with the writers!"
That's the kind of thing I should learn to say, instead of assuming it's obvious. One of the great things of this community is how much and how nicely it has helped in teaching me manners and politeness. It's still a long way to go, though :-).
And though I can't help being white any more than you can, when I'm in Europe people see I come from somewhere around the Mediterranean even before I speak. Typical guesses (besides the correct one) are Spanish and Turkish.