McHaleResponse1


 * My Freshman Year**

In Rebekah Nathan’s book, //My Freshman Year,// she talks about the difficulties of becoming a freshman. Nathan decides to go to college for one year at the university that she was a professor at. She wants to do a study on how students live. She notices how girls and boys decorate their doors differently. She noted that girls typically have decorations up, while boys “stripped” down any decorations by their door. Something the class also noticed, when we were having a discussion about our posters. Nathan also talked to a variety of people and took time diaries, also like we did. Only hers were more detailed and later in the school year when the students had figured out their rhythm. The people she talked to were so diverse, that some had to get up before six, while others slept in until noon. I found these two chapters of Nathan’s book to be interesting. It was easy to read and I could relate to most of what she is talking about. What she is going through in the first two chapters is what I am experiencing now.


 * Ethnography**

In the first part of Ethnography, they talked about language and culture. Language, or way of communicating was the most frequent topic. They talked about how important it is for history and how the techniques to pass down history have changed over the past generations. When reading about languages it reminded me of the second or third day of class. We got into groups that either had to do with our hobbies or major. In that group we thought of a word that only our group knew. It relates back to the reading, because they were also talking about languages in different cultural groups. It was difficult for me to read this book, because it read more like a textbook. I felt like it was trying to teach me something, instead of telling a story. Because I don’t fully understand what ethnography is, it made it confusing for me to read. I was able to understand parts of it, but not as a whole.