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Ad Mundo Exteriore,
What a stressful day. I found that I ordered the wrong math textbook, so now I have to figure out how to ship it back. I went to see if the Coop restocked on the right version of the textbook, and they did, but then the cashier said my debit card came up as "Not Approved". So I went to the bank and tried to withdraw the money from an ATM, and since it was my first time using an ATM, I typed my pin number incorrectly three times and then could only withdraw twenty dollars. I went to the teller, who had no idea why my card was "Not Approved", then to the customer service desk who told me that my pin number was deactivated since it was inputted incorrectly three times, but that there was nothing wrong with my card. She then very kindly reactivated my pin number and explained to me how to withdraw money from an ATM. Apparently, you're supposed to keep the withdrawals in multiples of twenty.
I successfully purchased the textbook, but felt rather depressed about the whole situation. And then I went to the Korean Association dinner for freshmen, because I thought, "Hey, it's free Korean food, and Mother wants me to associate with other Koreans." The experience only served to reinforce my niggling sense of loneliness here. I mean, when I'm with my dormmates, I feel normal and comfortable, but anywhere outside that tight-knit circle, I feel terribly out of place. Especially with other Koreans. Half of them spent the last summer in Korea or lived there before they came to college, so I was the only one who didn't catch all the nightclub and karaoke bar references. >_< I sat on the edge of a brick wall while we were waiting for the bus, and people just shoved past me, as if I weren't there at all. I don't usually mind being invisible, but this time, it was rather painful.
On the bright side, I now have all my textbooks (and no more excuses for not doing the readings). Also, Val-oneechan's present arrived today, which makes me feel very happy. (Borges' Collected Fictions in Penguin paperback. My second shelf is now completely full.)
Interesting idea of the day: "Amnesty" is related to the word "amnesia". Professor Tarrant says that Augustus' clemency toward his enemies had two major purposes. First, it was a contrast to his behavior when he was part of the triumvirate before the civil war (Antony, Octavian and Lepidus had issued a proscription, or a list of rivals and enemies who were soon killed or exiled). Second, it was a chance for all those involved to forget the past, a particularly interesting idea, since Romans were obsessed with tradition (the sense of outraged tradition is what caused Julius Caesar's assassination). It is rather symbolic, since Augustus in these first years after Actium ultimately changed the Roman political system. Although the trappings of it remained the same, its essence had altered drastically from the Roman past. Appropriate then to have an "amnesty" in a period of "amnesia". This is all, of course, interpretation, and specifically Professor Tarrant's interpretation filtered through my head.
( Fridge meme )
...Tari
What a stressful day. I found that I ordered the wrong math textbook, so now I have to figure out how to ship it back. I went to see if the Coop restocked on the right version of the textbook, and they did, but then the cashier said my debit card came up as "Not Approved". So I went to the bank and tried to withdraw the money from an ATM, and since it was my first time using an ATM, I typed my pin number incorrectly three times and then could only withdraw twenty dollars. I went to the teller, who had no idea why my card was "Not Approved", then to the customer service desk who told me that my pin number was deactivated since it was inputted incorrectly three times, but that there was nothing wrong with my card. She then very kindly reactivated my pin number and explained to me how to withdraw money from an ATM. Apparently, you're supposed to keep the withdrawals in multiples of twenty.
I successfully purchased the textbook, but felt rather depressed about the whole situation. And then I went to the Korean Association dinner for freshmen, because I thought, "Hey, it's free Korean food, and Mother wants me to associate with other Koreans." The experience only served to reinforce my niggling sense of loneliness here. I mean, when I'm with my dormmates, I feel normal and comfortable, but anywhere outside that tight-knit circle, I feel terribly out of place. Especially with other Koreans. Half of them spent the last summer in Korea or lived there before they came to college, so I was the only one who didn't catch all the nightclub and karaoke bar references. >_< I sat on the edge of a brick wall while we were waiting for the bus, and people just shoved past me, as if I weren't there at all. I don't usually mind being invisible, but this time, it was rather painful.
On the bright side, I now have all my textbooks (and no more excuses for not doing the readings). Also, Val-oneechan's present arrived today, which makes me feel very happy. (Borges' Collected Fictions in Penguin paperback. My second shelf is now completely full.)
Interesting idea of the day: "Amnesty" is related to the word "amnesia". Professor Tarrant says that Augustus' clemency toward his enemies had two major purposes. First, it was a contrast to his behavior when he was part of the triumvirate before the civil war (Antony, Octavian and Lepidus had issued a proscription, or a list of rivals and enemies who were soon killed or exiled). Second, it was a chance for all those involved to forget the past, a particularly interesting idea, since Romans were obsessed with tradition (the sense of outraged tradition is what caused Julius Caesar's assassination). It is rather symbolic, since Augustus in these first years after Actium ultimately changed the Roman political system. Although the trappings of it remained the same, its essence had altered drastically from the Roman past. Appropriate then to have an "amnesty" in a period of "amnesia". This is all, of course, interpretation, and specifically Professor Tarrant's interpretation filtered through my head.
( Fridge meme )
...Tari
