Let's start with the basics. My name is Mercedes Beatriz Gutierrez, better known to my friends and acquaintances as Bea (pronounced bay-yuh). I am an international student taking up Business Management at the Ohio State University. I am currently in my freshman year and I just recently moved here from my hometown of Manila, which is the capital of the Philippines. I was born and raised in Manila, which comes as quite a surprise to most people I meet here in the States, due to my conversational English skills, and my complete lack of an accent. I have received a fair number of comments about this that are usually preceded with either a skeptical or dumbfounded look. Tagalog is supposedly my "native language," but in all honesty, I have a much harder time speaking that than I do English. It was never really one of my strong points, and people usually don’t get that. Don’t worry. I don’t get it either.
Anyway, moving on. I enjoy a multitude of leisure activities; among them are reading, painting, and going to the beach. I was never really into sports, and I actually never knew how football was played until I came to Ohio State, which is possibly (and ironically) the biggest football school in America. I had also never seen falling snow, touched a squirrel, or jumped into a freezing lake until I came to study here. I have had so many new experiences since coming here, and I’m more than thrilled to have even more as the years go by.
Welcome to Ohio ! If you don't like the snow, fly home haha because we get plenty of it and for those of us that like the beach it is enough to make you want to hibernate. It is so funny that you speak better English than your native language and that you probably didn't know what you were getting into with the whole football situation. (:
ReplyDeleteit's so interesting that your English is better than your native language! this is my third year in the US, but I can still manage my native language pretty well ~
ReplyDeleteI had no idea how big football was here as well! And I also hadn't seen snow before. Not a lot of fun, is it?
ReplyDeleteBrit: Aw, thanks! :-) No actually I love the snow, the weather hasn't been too bad over here lately. I guess the novelty will wear off soon, but it's a nice change from the non-stop sun back home. I am seriously more qualified to teach English than Tagalog!
ReplyDeleteYujie: Yeah, English has always been my "first language" since we spoke it at home. Don't get me wrong, I'm fluent in Tagalog, I'm just not as good at it as I am with English.
ReplyDeleteObi: You're not a Buckeye unless you hate everything about Michigan and memorize the game songs by heart. I think snow is amazing!! Snow men, snow angels, snow sports. The wind can get annoying, but I think snow is just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteFirst off I love your name I think it's really unique! When I was in the fifth grade I had a Philipino teacher named Mrs. Krause; her first name was Olive and we would always call her evilo because that her first name backwards! haha just thought I share that with you!
ReplyDeleteThat's really cool that you're from the philippines and are just experiencing all this stuff for the first time. It's good that you are enjoying it all, I am too. I love all the crazy things we do here like jumping into mirror lake!
ReplyDeleteRaynisha: Well I don't think it's as unique as yours! I think Raynisha's an awesome name. Oh wow she must have been half something or married some foreigner because Krause is definitely not a Filipino last name. Not too sure if I should be happy that you associate Filipinos with "Evil-o," but thank you for sharing that! What nationality are you, if I may ask? :-)
ReplyDeleteAllison: Well actually I've been to the States a bunch of times since my dad lives in California, but living here is a completely different experience. Yeah, I've had some wonderful experiences over the past 4 months. :-) The workload can get pretty stressful though!
ReplyDeleteI love painting too. It's so relaxing; I just never have time for it anymore. :(
ReplyDeleteSo out of curiosity what is the main sport in the Philippines? :)
Yeah i never get to paint anymore! :-( I don't know if i don't have time or i'm just too lazy to buy materials.
ReplyDeleteBasketball is the most popular sport, our equivalent to the NBA is a very big deal in Manila. :-)
That's cool that it's basketball. It seems like most other countries are really crazy about soccer.
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