It was mellow. The guy was great and helpful and everything, but I feel as if I didn’t put enough effort into it. It lasted about 35 minutes… and we started off talking about China and Canada and Russia. The program I’m applying to requires a proficiency in a second language, so we spent a bit of time talking about that. I learned tons about Philly, Wharton, U. Penn, and the tax business lol (he kept recommending it). I think I made a really stupid mistake in not going into the challenging courses I’m taking more. And I completely forgot about my 350+ hours of documented volunteer/community service hours, alkfdjaskd!!
They say Penn interviews don’t matter that much, and the interviewer usually just gives advice. That was definitely the case. Now the nerveswrecking wait begins! In the mean time, UC applications start… and I’ll have to run around getting forms again for the half a dozen or so December deadline applications.
By now, most Vancouverites probably have heard about the taser death of Robert Dziekanski, a polish immigrant who was killed by the police in the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) early October. He was apparently stuck in customs for twelve hours while his mother, tragically enough, waited about 100 meters outside the secured area where he was wandering around. Robert didn’t speak English, and was most likely frustrated by the waiting process. He was shouting “help” in Polish but nobody could understand him (why didn’t anybody direct him to a translating line, the 24/7 service provided by YVR?!)
It draws resemblance to the movie The Terminal, except the ending here was not a happy one. From the tape released a few days ago, we can see that four RCMP officers walked in after Robert threw a computer in frustration. They zapped him two or three times until he fell to the ground, then they all got on top of him to handcuff the poor guy. One officer’s knee was on his neck it seems. A short while later, he lost conscious and died, all the while being captured on film.
I was absolutely disgusted with how the police acted. They definitely overreacted and used force excessively. Robert was agitated (who wouldn’t be, with travel plans boggled up like that in a foreign land… let’s see the RCMP remain calm and collected if we send them to Zimbabwe and have them stuck in customs for twelve hours), but he did not pose a serious threat to the other travelers. All they needed was a Polish-speaker and he’d be out of there in a flash. I think we can attribute part of his death to the language barrier, which breaks my heart because my family met the same obstacles a few years ago.
His mother Zofia saved money for seven years for Robert Dziekanski immigration. She had him come by Vancouver (then bus to Kamloops I suppose) because she wanted him to see how beautiful Canada is. Yet he died, painfully and publicly, with his mother a few hundred meters away waiting anxiously.
My sincerest apologies for disappearing for the last little while. Where was I you ask? I could say that I was frenetically preparing for exams, essays, and projects and that I was quite in over my head. But you would say, that’s no reason to not blog! Indeed, but this time, I actually have something to show that I had not gone shopping instead of blogging (oh the atrocity in that).
Behold, my Extended Essay as a May 2008 International Baccalaureate Diploma Candidate (damnnn I really love saying that long name).
I’m sure you college/doctorate kids are saying, BAH! That’s nothing. But I’m quite proud of the BS it actually. It has really been the bane of my existence since April this year, seven months of work… okay I can probably consolidate that into a month and half due to all the procrastination. 7 months of work. 4000 words. 4 drafts, 3 boounded copies (I swear the IBers are having a party at Kinko’s right now). And I’m back to blogging, that’s the best part I should say.
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Welcome to Ubiquitous
I'm Crystal, a Canadian who thinks she can take on the world simply by getting up each morning. They call me the caffeinated IBer wandering on the Internet. More?
I'm Crystal, a Canadian who thinks she can take on the world simply by getting up each morning. They call me the caffeinated IBer wandering on the Internet. 
