Lessons From Home

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have been altered." - Nelson Mandela

This is one of my favorite quotes and very applicable as going home for the first time made me realize how much I have changed. And I especially realized how much my thoughts and perceptions have changed of my general surroundings and conversations with old friends and relatives since taking this class.

It has been funny to hear all the recent discussions in class about Apple and then return home to Palo Alto, the birth place of all that is Apple and general tech madness. First off, the Apple store is in the heart of downtown and by far the largest most showy of stores so that you really can't avoid it. Also walking down town it is absurd to see how many people are actually wearing Google Glass... It's like just incase you can't see the iphone in my pocket please check out the ridiculousness that is on my face. But the fact that google glass is still very limited and you have to sign up and be deemed "good enough" by google is a huge status symbol in itself and completes that perception that you are successful.

Speaking of perceptions, it has been really interesting to see how friends and old classmates talk about their college experiences so others perceive them as extremely happy or having soooooo much fun. At a get together with my classmates there were those boys that were raving about how much they party and one-upping drunk stories so they are perceived as the most fun. There were girls that were "casually" wearing their sorority stuff and asking when I was rushing. When I responded that everything was local and it's not really a big deal the common response was "oh...that's too bad"with a look of superiority. I even heard a discussion between two people about who is working harder, has more homework, and is taking the tougher course load.

Why do we care so much about what are old classmates that we see only at reunions think of us. Whether what we are trying to portray to others is true or not, coming home has made me realize that we are always trying to portray something. Can't we just be ourselves? And never ever wear google glass out in public...