#2ndreflection

[umasspakleaders]

The Unplanned Learning 

Muhammad Adnan

I am writing this blog to acknowledge all the wonderful people who helped me get through the recent tough time I have faced and most importantly I want others to learn from some of the mistakes I made and to point out some positive and negative aspects of medical system here in US because good and bad things always go side by side.

Unfortunately there comes a time when you have to experience a major set back in life  when everything is going so smoothly, but these are the times I believe that test our will and spirit and the will and spirit of people around us.

A very similar thing happened to me, I fall of a bike 3 days back, the accident occurred when I was biking at around eight o,clock on Monday 10 July 2017.       I was going down the slope some where I don’t want to remember in the campus of UMass, I suddenly and unfortunately applied the front brakes , the next thing I know I was looking for was my teeth.I cut up sort of the upper right side of my lips.

I want to say it right now that bike safety is very important.I was not wearing the helmet which I consider was my biggest mistake, so next time when you ride a bike don’t forget to wear a helmet.

I want to acknowledge my mentors Brooke Lochiatto and Jesse tucker who was there for me all night in the hospital, they were telling me jokes, I know they were lame, but the the intention was to keep me motivated and it really works for me,I know it was their job in a way but the way the treat me was something that I will remember for long time.

I also want to say thanks to my Pakistani friends who helped me to get through this tough time and was there for me when ever I need them.

Just one aspect that I feel needed to be discuss and improve is that I waited for 6 hours to see a doctor and feel that is too long, I understand the doctors treat patients based on priorities and they have emergencies but I feel these things shouldn’t routinely happen.

The great aspect about the that night in the hospital was that the doctor was so nice and explained everything so nicely and she was so good at stitches that the wounds are now barely noticeable.

It could have been a whole worse.I got a wake up call on bike safety and got reminded how much how many people care about me.life goes on, and I take a little less for granted now.

[essarind-blog1]

Culture.

I believe culture is the accumulation of small things that are shared among a group that form together to make an umbrella like identity for all the participating groups. 

In our case the Umbrella of a Pakistani Culture is our Islam driven principles, our national language Urdu and our lIve for our Flavorful (often referred to as spicy by our American friends) food.

In my observation the American Cultural identity would be of their love for Freedom of Speech, their Democracy and Pickup Trucks. A lot of pickup trucks. 

A lot of the major differences might already have been discussed by my co-participants so I’ll focus on the little things I noticed. So in order to make this a cultural comparison I’ll write about all the differences whether they be geographical, social, political or just infrastructural that I have observed.

I noticed the pickup trucks because I like cars. Besides the obvious thing of having the steering on the wrong side, people here drive a lot more SUVs and Pickup trucks than in Pakistan. Also the Americans like to drink lemonade, wherever I went to get a drink there’s always a lemonade option available. I have never seen so many flavors of lemonade itself ever since I have been here. In Pakistan its either Pepsi or Water. One more interesting comparison I haven’t had a sip of Pepsi here, its not much on displays either relative to Coca Cola. There’s an obsession of having two doors to enter any building. Two is must. The walls are all cardboard made and very thin, so everything I could hear my neighbors and I’m sure they could hear us as well. While we are used to having concrete walls back home. There’s a norm of early to bed and early to rise which means early dinner. I find it very difficult to adjust to the dining timings. I have never had dinner with the sun out ever before in my life and that too food that tasted so bland.  So going back to Pakistan I’ll first have to adjust to eating dinner when its dark outside and then also prepare for a spice hurricane. The Americans discussed money a lot. The somehow manage to cram in prices or dollars into at least half of the conversations I’ve had with them, which is very unusual in Pakistan and probably a cause why mostly I and most of my friends are penniless by the end of the month. We don’t consider the money so much. Also formal, that’s very rare. I repeat, very rare. It’s mostly shorts everywhere! 

I could go on about the differences for hours and hours but the major shock that I got in terms of Cultural differences was the US as it is painted in the media is very different. It is not the moral leader it is portrated to be. It is still fighting some of its battles over Racism, Freedom of Speech and Gender Discrimination. At the same time being a subcontinental Muslim guy I expected some raised eyebrows if not direct remarks but that didn’t happen. There have been surprises for sure and I expect to keep learning more. This is growing to be an eventful journey. 

Hassan Ali

[sehargul-blog1]

The cultural aspects

"Today is a great day to learn some thing new", that's how I started my journey, I was so excited for the 4th July celebrations and it was something very new for me, a combination of colors and sounds was so exciting that it proved to be one of a rememberable day of my life, there was something for everyone. One of the great thing about that day was the attitude of our mentors, they guided as so well and that element added further beauty to that day, especially our team leader Josh. One thing I observed about the locals is that they care so much about the state laws and follow them by heart. Hoping for a great time ahead.

[dogarhere-blog]

4th july cultural celebrations

It was a cloudy day when we left birch house. I was wearing a red shirt in relation to the colour of the American flag on 4th of july. At start it was just another casual day but when we entered chesterfield , everything was totally different. The roads were marvelously decorated with American flags on both sides of the roads and I witnessed an American flag on every house which rose my enthusiasm.

When we approached the parade avenue , we witnessed a very versatile celebration of the independence day. People from all creeds and races,all countries and continents were holding American flags in their hands, singing American songs at the peak of their voices. We sat at the roadside to view the parade.

To be very honest, I wasnot expecting what I saw there. In a nutshell, I saw the history of US moving infront of me on the road. The developments that automobile industry made were apparent on the road in the form of vehicles being displayed that represented every era of development in US.

The parade included representatives from every department of chesterfield. After that there came the turn of the war veterans. I always feel excited to see war veterans being celebrated. They displayed old model cars and trucks as well. Then came the turn of the biker gangs. At the end their were children on their tricycles that ended the parade in such a lovely way.

[iammadnan1-blog]

Expectations vs Realities

When I first arrived in United States, I was totally unaware of how Americans will be like, for me Americans were people with unsmiling faces and business suits.
But just in a matter of one week all those perceptions proved wrong.
Talking about culture what I have observed is that Americans do love to connect their history with their celebrations, 4th July is the true representations of it, and they do feel proud in celebrating 4th July, where there are events for every age starting from flag raising ceremony, parade, food, games followed by fire works.
Americans love to participate in small talk, where they talk to strangers about non controversial issues such as their favorite food, weather etc
The dressing style is generally very casual, students go to classes in shorts and T-shirts.
Hoping for a great time ahead.

[idreeskhan0-blog]

Independence in the US.

4th of July, it is the day when the great super power, celebrates its independence from their British colonizers.The joy that surrounds the nation is very different to that I had experienced all my life, back in Pakistan. Pakistan is a security state that has a bellicose neighbor such as India, furthermore crippled by terrorism. Therefore independence Day in Pakistan is much of a state driven show rather than being a people centric festival.

Another analogy that strikes me the most was the sense of unity that drove people to come out and enjoy the festival. Though the individualism in American society is quite prevalent, but with that, I have observed that the nation, individual in personal life is collectively combined to protect their values and Land. Hence July 4th is a great lesson for me, for the first time I did not watched tanks and jets rolling over, rather it was the local community that enjoyed by praising its policeman and fire department officials.

July the 4th was a great day and it was a privilege to be on such a day in the USA, the fireworks that were held later at the night were again a great show of celebrating the freedom of great land and paying tribute to its founding fathers for crafting such a great Land with such a great political vision for its people.

[sushmita-devi]

Join at your own risk!

The three weeks of project was worth it. It helped me learn something I probably wouldn’t have in BCIS. Working on different project every week was challenging as it was time limited as well as we had to start from scratch which helped me think deeper. Working with sound tract was fun as I was always a person who would mix sounds and what not for my dance performance back at high school. That was the highlight of the project. The second project was making out own instruments from scratch which I also enjoyed the most as I enjoy building things on my own. Being a technical person comes in handy when it comes to hands on projects. Assembling my instruments and testing it repeatedly was the best experience but I did take the risk of attaching the coil to the car battery to effectively test the performance of it as the intensity wasn’t compatible with the 1.5 nor 9V battery. Everything went perfectly fine with the individual projects each week within those two weeks but the final projects was bloody challenging as the sound would not mix even when we had the background music as well. Our groups instruments were perfect for our theme but every time we practised for the performance, there was always something that came in the way. It was either the tracks not mixing well or each member playing the instrument at the wrong time even though we had the graphic score ready on the second day but it was moderated on the third day. Nothing was working out but on the performance day, everything went well. Despite the fact, it was an individual then a group project, something that I was told on the very first week was finally proved during this time of the year of this course which was ‘collaboration and iteration is the most important aspect for everything you do in life’. <All the screenshots are shown in the first reflection post> _below

[umasspakleaders]

The culture here is very fascinating and different from Pakistan. When I was coming here so I had a very bad image of U.S culture but the more I know about their culture the more I am loving it. The people are very liberal and straight forward. women are treated equally they are not shut under the four walls of their houses or nt considered as a seperate entity where the other nations consider it as an entity not humans even, When I visited my host family for the home stay I was surprised by so many amazing things, there was a small girl who was talking to her mother and was complaining about the teacher who asked them tht girls should stand in one line and boys in other by hearing that the small girl asked the teacher what do you mean by girls and boys we all are same how come you are distinguishing us on the basis of gender I was so much touched and surprised I wish I could make my country to adopt the culture as it is the only possible way to liberate the women from cruelity and discrimination which they had been facing for centuries..

[umasspakleaders]

Leadership

For me Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better. I honestly never thought myself as a leader until I got selected for the Susi leaders program. But still I had my reservations. However, the group activities such as Scavenger Hunt, Groff Park, academic sessions with Raaz Sibi and the presidential comparing changed my perception regarding leadership. I realized that Leadership is not just imposing your decisions over others. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. I actually got to work with people from several different backgrounds with different mindsets and the exchange of ideas between us was very enlightening for me. I had to come out of my comfort zone and be accepting towards other people's ideas and perceptions and that is what leadership is. I think all of these experiences have led me become a better version of myself and the learning so far has been amazing.

[umasspakleaders]

Academic Sessions by Saira Mehmood

As said by 32th president of United States of America :

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can built our youth for future “

This quote by Franklin Delano is the perfect example of the reason why we are here on this Academic exchange program in United States . As a student of Computer Science I always enjoy taking the classes of policy making by Tom Fricke and Samantha Camera because it helps me to think about solving the national problems in a better and a different way . Through the  knowledge about the policy making  and by using the skills I am  getting by studying   computer science  I can now think about the implementation of the policies at national level in a better way by making software and programs .

In the 2nd week of my exchange program I learnt a lot about policy  and constitution making and its implementation on state ,federal level by taking the classes of Tom Fricker  . The way Tom taught us about the policy making  made me more interested in learning more about it . We also went to Boston on a study tour . The most important part of the Boston tour was the session with the youngest senator in the State House . In that session he told us about how the Government works and current policies they made about the education , gender and environment. we also visited aquarium and Harvard University in Boston . In the Harvard University I came to know about the history of its Library which was very interesting . Apart from the Study tour in Boston the leadership sessions by Raz Sibbi were very informative and interesting .  It was very interactive and helpful session for me as  I learnt a lot about the strategies a leader adopt for leading his team because I am a leader of 15 senior students for the project of empowerment of transgenders in Pakistan as I am very passionate about it .  We also had a class on LGBTQ  rights in which we had panel discussion on the lives  of LGBTQ and the challenges they are facing  due to their gender discrimination .  I got a first hand chance to meet the LGBTQ personally and talked about their life in depth  which  helped me a lot because now I can fight for their rights in  even  in a more  better way and become their voice as they are unheard in Pakistan  .  The journey of learning  doesn’t ends here ,there is still so much to learn in the coming days .

[umasspakleaders]

Of Yeehaaws and Ohhms

This week we had two very engaging sessions on leadership patterns and decision making with Raz Sibii and Matt Mc Williams. Both speakers held interactive sessions wherein we were taught how a leader is not only one who leads but also one who listens and has the ability to make everyone grow.  While Raz spoke five different types of leadership styles, Matt primarily spoke about leadership within the context of US Presidential elections. A moment of particular interest for me was when he mentioned the YEEHAAW AND OHHMM moments. He talked how politics and leadership most importantly consists of moments of triumph when you get to kick your heels and howl YEEHAWW however this very YEEHAWW has led to the downfall of many politicians who got overconfident with their brief moment triumph and this got them in trouble. We discussed the example of former Texas governor Rick Perry who was up and ahead in the polls for the 2008 presidential campaign before he had an "oops" moment in a presidential debate. We learned how a leader should sometimes of instead of saying YEEHAWW say OHMM. OHMM is the expression that exemplifies preservation, a settling down of sorts, a calmness.

Thus a leader should know when to treat a moment or an opportunity as an OHHM and when to treat it as a YEEHAAW.

Eesha Khan

[umasspakleaders]

Leadership by Mehreen

I really don't know the exact definition of leadership ;however, if you can lead a group or you have the potential to make people understand you is all about leadership. If you can better explain yourself and others who are associated with you then you are a leader. For instance, Americans don't know much about Pakistan and if you explain to them what is actually Pakistan and what kind of people are there and how is Pakistani culture different from American culture and vise versa. Furthermore, if you have the patience to listen to others then you are a leader. Like we are working in a group and we choose a group leader so that he could manage the group. Group leader always listens to all his or her members and finally takes a decision and that is the best thing. Leadership is all about managing things and organizing lives. If I am a good leader I must be a role model to other people. First of all I should follow the rules so that people admire you and start following the rules. For example, people in America are very punctual and they also follow the rules. I love this and I am trying to follow it. When I will get back to Pakistan I would definitely follow rules over there so that people would also do that. And I am sure people will love it. These were some of the points related to our leadership class too. I also consider myself a leader because sometimes I decide when to get up and where to go for eating and where to go for outing. That's all I think. Thank you!

[umasspakleaders]

Academic Sessions

In previous week we had a sessions with Tom Frick on Constitution and Bill of Rights, the next session was with Razvan Sibi on Leadership and on Friday we had session about US Presidential election campaigns with Mike Pens. In Tom Frick session we learned constitutional history of United States. The session with Tom has also provided us differences between the policies in Pakistan and United States. The session with Razvan Sibi was about the leadership skills in people and how to develop these skills to become a good leader. And on Friday we had session about presidential elections campaigns which was the great session. In which we learned the differences between campaigning in Pakistan and campaigning in United States. The best part of US campaigns in which all contestants have to do debate with each other about problems and their solutions. And now we also have to do campaign for our party, either Republican or democratic. We have to give one name who will be Vice President in 2020 and we have to defend our policies. All sessions were quiet good and interesting. I think the best session was about presidential elections campaigns.

[umasspakleaders]

Cultural events by Asad Sajid

Since we have not been to any cultural event this week, I am confuse on what to write. Today we are going to six flags. Back in Pakistan, I did not know what six flags is. Hassan told me that its like Aladin park of America. I was pretty excited that we will get to go to an amusement park. Right now, I am heading towards that joyous place. Although with a broken hand, I am still excited about what six flags will offer me. I am here at six flags and I am a bit dissappointed. I am not able to enjoy the rides because of my broken arm. But I guess what Allah does for your fortune is the best. Amna said, '' there is more to life'', and I guess, yes there is. I know selecting six flags trip as a cultural event topic was a bad idea because cultural event is something which you enjoy. Waiting for others in storage room and thinking what would you have done to enjoy makes me sad. But it has been just one hour, lets hope for the best for remaining 7 hours. Its 6 pm. 3 hours remaining. I can't say I did not enjoy since fun is not a relative concept. I enjoyed sitting on a bench at this beach. I enjoyed watching children playing in the water. I enjoyed clicking my pictures. The end. I did not enjoy the fun but felt calmness and self realization. This trip made me realized what it takes to sacrifice for others when you dont have any choice. Also, how much you should be thankful to someone for a favor. One thing is for sure, from now on, I will do what I can by my own and will not ask others. Even if I have to ask for help, I will, but by offering great thank yous.

[umasspakleaders]

Experiencing Freedom!

M.Idrees.Khan 4th of July, it is the day when the great super power, celebrates its independence from the British colony. The joy that surrounds the nation is very different to that I had experienced all my life, back in Pakistan. Pakistan is a security state that has a bellicose neighbor such as India. Therefore the Independence Day in Pakistan is much of a state driven show rather than being a people centric festival. Another analogy that strikes me the most was the sense of unity that drove people to come out and enjoy the festival. Though individualism prevails in the American society, but with that, I have observed that the nation, individual in personal life is collectively combined to protect their values and Land. Hence July 4th is a great lesson for me, for the first time I didn’t watched tanks and jets rolling over, rather it was the local community that enjoyed by praising it policeman and fire department officials. July the 4th was a great day and it was a privilege to be on such a day in the USA, the fireworks that were held later at the night were again a great show of celebrating the great land and paying tribute to its founding fathers for crafting such a great Land with such a great political vision for its people.

[umasspakleaders]

Cultural perception...

“AMNA SIDDIQUE”

A Language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It’s all embodied in a language. (Noam Chomsky)

By attending cultural events, we experience the diverse offerings of culture and artistic expression found in a community. Understanding the culture of a nation, people, or group—the arts, beliefs, customs, practices, values, and social behaviors is the best thing to be observed.

In the above mentioned context, we have explored, seen, observed and felt a lot of different things in a short span of the week worth remembering. These included a few that are mentioned below:

-Scavenger Hunting

-Meeting American People in person -Interacting with the Locals -July 4th, 2017 celebrations in Chesterfield Parade. -BBQ event

-Firework in front of Football stadium

-Visiting Malls like Target, Holyoke, Walmart

-Movie At Hampshire Mall

-Visit to a American Family

So the best part from all of my hangouts was the celebrations that I experienced on 4th of July. I perceive many new things-people are very friendly, always open for conversation, patriotic and stick towards their history. Most importantly I am highly impressed that they respect their culture and the other cultures very much. I got the positive vibes from the local people, they always be there to sort out your problem. So I believe that exposing yourself to various cultures is so vital towards personal growth.