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July 07, 2004
Working in a globalized computer lab
As I get settled back in to academic life, I am finding some things that simply weren’t part of my undergraduate experience. The environment here in Savannah isn’t all that different from the one in Fargo-Moorhead, but there are definite distinctions as a result of geography and the fact that SCAD is a more well-known institution than MSUM was. What struck me as interesting today was that lately, when I sit down at one of the Macs in the lab, I find myself having to switch the keyboard layout back to U.S. English from the dropdown menu. You see, nearly half of the graduate-level students at SCAD are international students. Yesterday, I had to switch back from a Hiragani layout. Today, from Czech. On more than one occassion, I have been sitting in a classroom or lab and heard casual conversations break out around me in Chinese or Taiwanese; often times, I don’t even realize it until I listen close enough to realize I can’t understand a word of it. In at least one of my classes, I am truly a minority as a U.S.-born citizen. It is truly fascinating.
Posted by paullheureux at July 7, 2004 12:05 PM