College?!?!

For those of you who may not know. I was accepted to be part of Bryn Mawr College's Class of 2019!!!!! I am beyond excited.

Working on my packing lists now because if I don't I literally will have no time otherwise #bmc2019 #commentanysuggestions

A photo posted by Anushka Robinson (@nushi.ke) on Mar 28, 2015 at 7:58pm PDT

The only downside is that I have so much to do to get ready. I have medical forms to fill out and get my visa. I only got my new passport on Tuesday

To help me and some future poor soul, here are some ways to prepare for college in the fall

Pinterest

Pinterest is a godsend. I have boards for my dorm room, for study tips and for general college life. Pinterest is currently my survival guide.

Follow Anushka's board Dorm on Pinterest.
Follow Anushka's board College on Pinterest.
HerCampus

HerCampus.com is a great resource for all incoming freshmen. They have amazing giveaways and advice for you during and even after your college life. They also have an amazing book coming out.

HerCampus has given me ideas for dorm decoration, socialising on campus and how to use my degree to get a job in the future.*

Any tourism site about the area you're going to

For me that's VisitPhilly.com. It's  a pretty cool website that even has a breakdown month by month of any events happening in the city. 

I'm looking forward to going around and exploring the city!

Packing Lists

This is of uber-importance. Don't tell yourself that you're going to remember everything you need. That's a sure way to end up on the phone to your mom trying to describe to her the thing you need so she can send it to you before next week, when you have to have it by.

Working on my packing lists now because if I don't I literally will have no time otherwise #bmc2019 #commentanysuggestions

A photo posted by Anushka Robinson (@nushi.ke) on Mar 28, 2015 at 7:58pm PDT

I'm making two lists. I'm planning on mailing the bulky stuff to myself and then packing light for the plain ride. Remember pack only essentials, most of the stuff you'll be able to buy once you get to college.

That's it form me for now, good luck Class of 2019!

* I might even start a HerCampus chapter at BMC, shhh....

REVIEW: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

(Source: https://postcardsfrompurgatory.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/americanah-cover-image.jpg)

Please excuse any gushing. Chimamanda Adichie is the queen of my heart.

Americanah tells the story of two Nigerians, Ifemelu and Obinze. They meet in high school, fall in loved and stay together in university. Nigeria is under military rule at this time, to escape the constant strikes at their university Ifemelu leaves to study in America. Obinze promises to follow soon. Instead, they are seperated for 13 years. When they reunite, Ifemelu has returned to Nigeria after running a successful race blog in America, while Obinze is married and had a child.

Americanah is a love story. Through all of Ifemelu and Obinze's faults, their trials and sucesses, part of you waits for the moment they reunite. Even stronger than Ifemeulu and Obinze's personal love story, is a love story for Nigeria. Ifemelu carries two things with her as she live in America, Obinze and Nigeria. Through all her blog entries, included when relevant in some of her chapters, is a sense she is writing her way home. While she becomes a savvy "Americanah"*, her blog makes sense of a world that was incomprehensible to her when she newly arrived. When she returns to Nigeria, part of her doesn't understand why, only that she must go back. Once she does, she is lost in the beginning. She soon starts another blog, writing her way back to Nigeria she knows.

All of Obinze's loves fail. Only his love for Ifemelu is strong enough in the end. He is the opposite of Ifemelu, he loved America but found that it was not when he expected when he arrived. He does not love his wife but is content with his life. Obinze spends much of the book having lost his way. While financially successful, most of his life seems only to be going through the motions. Unlike Ifemelu, instead of holding on to his convictions his worldview becomes gradually shaken up. Only when Ifemelu returns does he begin to rediscover who he really is.

Adichie also has masterful characterisation. Even the minor characters are shown with their own stories. Ifemelu spends six hours in a hair salon and by the end of it the reader feels as if they know her hairdresser as well as they know Ifemelu.

I loved Americanah. I stayed up until 1 a.m. reading it and didn't even realise it. READ THIS BOOK. If I haven't been enough to convince you of the power of Adichie's writing here's a review of her book Purple Hibiscus by a girl I was in class with:

"[I reached a certain part] and I flung the book across the room"**

*A term used for a Nigerian who goes to America and comes back in the novel. Please correct me if I'm wrong

** The good kind, the I don't know what to do with myself the author is so good kind

"Caribbean" accent

"You're from the Caribbean? Isn't that like Jamaica?"

 If you are from the Caribbean and have ever traveled outside, you have heard some variant of this. The first time you hear it you laugh it off and explain no, the Caribbean is an archipelago, made up of hundreds of islands. Yes some accents sound more similar than other but that's getting into phonetics.

 The reason for this blog is that I just finished reading Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie.* In it the main character Ifemelu, describes her driver as having a "Caribbean accent". I have no beef with Adichie, throughout the novel she allows her characters, even minor ones, to keep their national identity. This one instance struck me as strange, perhaps because of that. What is the Caribbean accent? It feels like it belongs to members of the Caribbean diaspora. Those who have left band together in voice to remember the lyrical patterns of home.

It certainly is not something Caribbean people agree about. Tell a Trinidadian that they sound like a Jamaican and see the look you get. Most Caribbean people can generally guess where you are by your accent. Of course there is the general "Small islander accent."**

I don't expect anyone outside of the Caribbean to instantly know what island a Caribbean person by accent. I just want it to be known we are not a homogenous society of white sand beaches and palm trees. We are not just a vacation destination. Know who we are.

 Bigger countries have no excuse anymore. America, you call us your backyard. And hey Britain, Spain and France! You colonised us for nearly 500 years, learn our names.

*Spoiler alert: It was fantastic like all her books are , I'll be posting a review later.

** I am so so sorry I am an arrogant Trinidadian bastard.

New Year????

Honestly I am not feeling the New Year Spirit this year. Resolutions have never been my thing, I didn't go out, and  I was bogged down with essays. I wouldn't know it was the new year if the calender on my computer didn't say so.

BUT I do have an idea for what I want for this year, or an affirmation as my dad would say.

2k14 was the year of loving my self. I'm going to keep that up but I'm also going to spread that to others this year as well. 2k15 will be the year of giving of myself, as much as I am able.

Also I know college applications are due soon. Good luck to everybody who applied and all the best for the new year!

Where I've been the past few weeks

So I've been AWOl for the past few weeks, both for good and bad reasons. Here are a few highlights from my past couple months:

• trinidad+tobago film festival

I attended some amazing panels at the trinidad and tobago film festival this year. Though I didn't get to attend all the ones I wanted to see, the ones I saw were really informative. I got to check out presentations on film collectives, by the Tribeca Film Institute and presentations on internet and short film content. It was a great, no wonder they were named one of the coolest film festivals!

• Phantom of the Opera

I was lucky enough to help out with a local production of Phantom of the Opera. Caribbean Theatre Production put on a phenomenal rendition of the Phantom of the Opera. I didn't perform on stage but I was one of the stage hands.* It was so much fun and some days I miss it. The late nights were killer though!

• TTSPCA

I just started helping out at a local animal shelter. Not much to report now except: I want to take all the animals home with me!

That's all for now, I should have a new blog out next week. This one will be a story I've been working on and off for the past couple months. **



Don't think I forgot, It's almost Christmas.

Christmas gift recommendation: Pan! Our Musical Odyssey is fantastic local film. It delves into the rich history of pan and gives you a crash course in what pan means to the history of Trinidad and Tobago. You can buy it online here.

Also I've relaunched my blog Trini Christmas is... Check it out when you get the chance!

Christmas song: 


This song always give me chills

Tchau!

*Stage crew is the best crew

**Mostly off

Getting over disappointment

So as as upper secondary level Caribbean students will know, C.A.P.E. results came out this Sunday.  And I didn't do as well as I hoped. I did well but not absolutely stunning like I wanted.  So this blog is going to sound a little weird because my disappointment may be a tad unjustified.

Here are my tips for getting over disappointment

1. Distract yourself: Do you something you like doing and that make you happy. Watch the episode of that TV Show you missed, cook something, listen to music. Anything that you like that you think will take your mind off it.
2. Talk to your friends: Your friends will voluntarily listen to you for hours complain about how things didn't work out. Just make sure not to overdo it.
3. Reward yourself: You tried, even if you didn't succeed that's something.

Aaaaand that's all I got for now ;)

The plan for today is writing, makeup tutorials and studying for SAT's. I hope everybody else is having a nice lazy Saturday like me (or at least a nice Saturday if you're not into that kind of thing.

Learning a language

Confession: I am not good at foreign languages. Sometime around age 14 it felt like putting foreign words in my head was like overfilling a bucket, so I let it all slip out. I can recall French and Spanish to some degree but at a very basic level. Really the only language I have tried and am trying to learn is Japanese and the fact that I have some enthusiasm for it means it sticks pretty okay in my head. Recently, I have been trying to learn Portuguese. If you have seen anything at ll of the Brazilian National football team you will understand why.  So as part of my current year off I decided to channel this sudden and unwanted upsurge of teenage hormones into something that may be productive and am teaching myself Portuguese.

I'm using the Duolingo app to teach me and it's pretty great.

If you haven't hear about this app before Duolingo is an app for iOS and Andriod system where you gain a certain amount of XP for completing an excercise. Lingots can be earned by leveling up or completeing and excercise with no mistakes. The can be used  to buy bonus excercises*.The app so far has been really good for teaching me and I think I'm picking up the language pretty well. It's really good for anyone looking to start learning a language and I highly recommend it. I'm probably going to sign up for classes in September though, so I can get more hands on experience.

Tchau galera!

*Yes flirting is one of them