<p>Abw his name was rowen</p>
<p>I feel you on the desirability thing. I feel like they just need us to replace all of those seats left by dropouts lol. I’m happy to oblige though! Yeah, universities don’t care nearly as much about transfers. Most scholarships, articles, tips, resources, etc, are focused on freshman applicants. We are doomed to be second rate until we are in, and then we get to pretend that we are just like everyone else lol. Have you ever seen the age statistics at UT? I think that you are in the top 3% in terms of age if you are 25 or older. This might have something to do with the general perception. It’s like they are thinking “oh, you are just now getting it” lol. Most of those kids are there because they have determined parents though. Half of the people on the freshman threads are parents! Too bad my mother never got like that lol.
That’s difficult to explain. I really enjoy learning the language, and I admire the values of Chinese culture. I find it hard to explain, actually lol. Chinese culture just makes sense to me. I don’t know much about their positions on gender non-conformity, but I was recently told by my instructor that they are indifferent to same-sex couples. I do know, however, that they are very traditional with respect to family roles. It’s pretty similar to most old cultures–male dominated 
I’m a male, but I certainly sympathize with those seeking to break out of stereotypes and gender roles. I don’t know…I just love Chinese language. I study it for fun and am always excited to learn more. Writing the characters is almost cathartic–I’ve never encountered a subject so interesting. I think this fascination extends to other languages as well though. In fact, I ultimately plan to pick up Spanish and Portuguese after Chinese, and then perhaps take on the great Arabic beast. (It is another category 5 language.)</p>
<p>I have never been! I’ve never even left the country!
Thai food is AMAZING…</p>
<p>Abw my global politics teacher is from china and she actually worked in the Chinese gov she came here in 97 and worked at ol miss and now is at my university</p>
<p>Yeah, I think that’s going to be the biggest change for me once I transfer…compared to everyone else, I’m going to be OLD. lol. I mean, at least at CC, you occasionally get classmates in their 30’s and older. It’s a lot more diverse, age-wise. But being that I’m 23 (and my birthday’s in less than a month, so I’m nearly 24), I’ll be practically ancient at the university. I think that might present some social difficulties because I find it hard to relate to people who have never had to take care of themselves or pay bills, etc. Like, in a class last year, I mentioned that my last car had finally kicked the bucket, and one of the younger folks was like, “Why don’t you buy a new one? Or get your family to buy you a new one?” Like money or cars just grow on trees! Totally gave that person the side-eye. Haha.</p>
<p>I’ve never left the country, either. :’(</p>
<p>It would be wonderful to do exchange programs or something, but it’s hard when you have to work and taking off of work to jaunt around the globe might mean you won’t have a job to come back to. My boss is cool though. I bet she’d let me leave for a few weeks (unpaid) during the summer and come back to my job. </p>
<p>I could eat pad thai and satay EVERY F***ING DAY. So delicious. Aaaah.</p>
<p>& deadpoetics I’m 24</p>
<p>Cool, Acanaday! We should go walker shopping together and sign up for Social Security! Also…bingo night! :P</p>
<p>Hey hey hey I’m 28! Yeah, you will be an old geezer, but I will be truly ancient. In the upper echelons of underachievement lol.
This: “Why don’t you buy a new one? Or get your family to buy you a new one?” Like money or cars just grow on trees!
Constantly ****es me off. I’m like, “yeah, my student loans are paying for dental surgery and it took me two years to save up enough to buy a car.” College would be a joke if I didn’t have responsibilities. I feel ya!
@acanady
I wish I had more contact with Chinese nationals. There just aren’t very many at ACC</p>
<p>I know I feel like it’s about time some days 
I think I have a phobia of getting older & things changing around me drastically if that makes sense</p>
<p>I have no choice but to spend a significant amount of time abroad, even if it means going into more debt than I otherwise would and coming back jobless. Chinese is simply too difficult to learn in the states.</p>
<p>And ya it is very interesting to hear her stories from like her un conferences that she has attended and stuff it’s crazy when she was working there they bought her apartment or paid her rent it was only 20 bucks a month it’s just so Crazy to me</p>
<p>But you can get an entire meal from a street vendor for less than a dollar in Beijing. You can even rent apartments for next to nothing in China. They pay people who go over there to teach relatively well.</p>
<p>“The upper echelons of underachievement” HAHAHA. I’m with ya, buddy. You should come walker shopping with us too. </p>
<p>Oh, man, don’t even talk to me about dental surgery. I went so long without insurance that when I finally did see a dentist a couple months ago, I was told that it would cost me $700 to clean my teeth properly, and that’s even with regular dental hygiene. (Apparently, going without seeing a dentist for two years is BAD. Just FYI. lol) I mean, geeze, that’s how much I make in a month at my part-time job! 18-year-olds are so hilarious because they don’t even have to THINK about dental insurance. lol. Well, most of them. I was uninsured at 18, too. Might just pay for student insurance when I transfer. Not that expensive, really, and it’d be worth it. </p>
<p>Took me a year to save up for my car. I just bought it two months ago. It needs work, but I’m just so happy to have one that basically works!</p>
<p>We’re moving up in the world, though! </p>
<p>@ Acanaday</p>
<p>Getting older isn’t so bad. Nobody treats you like a kid anymore once you hit 24 and older. Plus, tons of research shows that people in their 30’s and 40’s are happiest as a group. It’ll especially be great once we have degrees and can get decent-paying jobs so we can have the freedom to enjoy the nicer things in life. :)</p>
<p>That’s so crazy we were actually discussing that ge were bringing some jobs back bc wages were going up which makes it just as cheap to make so products back here</p>
<p>Hopefully!!</p>
<p>I read something on Sociological Images the other day that was discussing the fact that many low-paying manufacturing jobs are coming back from China because it’s cheaper to make prisoners do it for free. I find that exploitative for many reasons. But it’s definitely an interesting discussion. Check it out. </p>
<p>[Prison</a> Labor and Taxpayer Dollars » Sociological Images](<a href=“http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/04/04/prison-labor-and-taxpayer-dollars/]Prison”>Prison Labor and Taxpayer Dollars - Sociological Images)</p>
<p>We should instead give it to people on welfare</p>
<p>And ofcourse pay them what they are making now</p>
<p>Oh yeah, wages have definitely gone up, but they still don’t match wages here. I think other factors are influencing this new trend. Perhaps this prison labor is one of them Yeah, incarcerating people for BS charges and then forcing them to work for free is criminal, no pun intended 
Let’s hope our liberal arts degrees actually pay off lol. i will enjoy the ride either way!</p>