(no subject)
MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN FINALLY GOT BACK TO ME CONFIRMING THEY RECEIVED MY APPLICATION AND WILL PROCESS IT SHORTLY. YESSSSS. Manchester: 100% secure!!!
Also, two other things:
In my Queer Studies class, there is a girl who I had to work on a discussion/presentation thing with. In our avid email exchanges, she said something about "Oh no, I don't want to get up in front of the class and talk about that gay stuff," which okay, fine, even though I was definitely wondering about her wording. Part of our assignment was to read a text on bisexuality and create questions from it for the class to discuss. During that class, that girl asked me what bisexuality was. *facepalm* But that definitely wasn't the icing on the cake. That she delivered in today's class.
I think we were talking about today's visibility of GLBT people, and somebody said she thought it was sad that there are a lot of GLBT couples still who, in her experience, don't show affection for one another in public.
Cue homophobia: That girl talked about how she really doesn't want to see PDAs of same-sex couples. Apparently last weekend when she was out in clubs, all she was surrounded with were GLBT couples making out freely; there was a group of GLBT couples putting on PDAs next to a group of drunk men post-football (the European version) something or other championship finale. She didn't say she found it disgusting, but it was pretty heavily implied. Her reasoning was something along the lines that people have to adhere to some kind of standard or whatever, and same-sex desire was not natural.
Cue defense: The young mother (with her cute daughter) sitting directly behind that girl called out her bullshit re: PDA by pointing out that she'd apparently been cuddling and kissing with her boyfriend (who was sitting next to her and very pointedly did not take part in that discussion) during class which nobody waqs offended by (let's not talk here about whether or not such behaviour during class is appropriate or not, shall we?). She was so surprised that somebody might have taken offense by that. Just. GRRR. Also she argued along the lines that discrimination in the workplace was a goal that she thought should be achieved for GLBT people. As long as, you know, they don't fucking kiss in public. Or, hey, you know, hold hands. How unnatural.
*EPIC HEADDESK* WHAT THE HELL. SERIOUSLY. WHAT THE HELL.
Also, Berlin's public transport has not been working today due to a fire in the electric cables at Ostkreuz, which is a major S-Bahn station and, uh, change point between numerous lines. Which resulted in:
- the circle line being in partial, majorly disrupted service not serving multiple stations, at times running every 30 mins at most;
- the central lines crossing from east to west being majorly disrupted, later not working at all;
- regional train services through the city centre being diverted around the city and entering it from the north instead of the south-west o.O
- all other services being delayed, and this includes not just the S-Bahn but also the U-Bahn (tube), tram and bus services.
Wow.
I think about maybe 25% of all students made it to class on time this morning for classes scheduled for 10am. I was one of those lucky 25% but only because I left the flat 20 minutes early since I'd heard about the disruptions (which is not easy in the mornings when you haven't planned for such a disruption) and walked to the next stop. On high-ish heels. Which wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience, let me tell you.
What an interesting day.
Also, two other things:
In my Queer Studies class, there is a girl who I had to work on a discussion/presentation thing with. In our avid email exchanges, she said something about "Oh no, I don't want to get up in front of the class and talk about that gay stuff," which okay, fine, even though I was definitely wondering about her wording. Part of our assignment was to read a text on bisexuality and create questions from it for the class to discuss. During that class, that girl asked me what bisexuality was. *facepalm* But that definitely wasn't the icing on the cake. That she delivered in today's class.
I think we were talking about today's visibility of GLBT people, and somebody said she thought it was sad that there are a lot of GLBT couples still who, in her experience, don't show affection for one another in public.
Cue homophobia: That girl talked about how she really doesn't want to see PDAs of same-sex couples. Apparently last weekend when she was out in clubs, all she was surrounded with were GLBT couples making out freely; there was a group of GLBT couples putting on PDAs next to a group of drunk men post-football (the European version) something or other championship finale. She didn't say she found it disgusting, but it was pretty heavily implied. Her reasoning was something along the lines that people have to adhere to some kind of standard or whatever, and same-sex desire was not natural.
Cue defense: The young mother (with her cute daughter) sitting directly behind that girl called out her bullshit re: PDA by pointing out that she'd apparently been cuddling and kissing with her boyfriend (who was sitting next to her and very pointedly did not take part in that discussion) during class which nobody waqs offended by (let's not talk here about whether or not such behaviour during class is appropriate or not, shall we?). She was so surprised that somebody might have taken offense by that. Just. GRRR. Also she argued along the lines that discrimination in the workplace was a goal that she thought should be achieved for GLBT people. As long as, you know, they don't fucking kiss in public. Or, hey, you know, hold hands. How unnatural.
*EPIC HEADDESK* WHAT THE HELL. SERIOUSLY. WHAT THE HELL.
Also, Berlin's public transport has not been working today due to a fire in the electric cables at Ostkreuz, which is a major S-Bahn station and, uh, change point between numerous lines. Which resulted in:
- the circle line being in partial, majorly disrupted service not serving multiple stations, at times running every 30 mins at most;
- the central lines crossing from east to west being majorly disrupted, later not working at all;
- regional train services through the city centre being diverted around the city and entering it from the north instead of the south-west o.O
- all other services being delayed, and this includes not just the S-Bahn but also the U-Bahn (tube), tram and bus services.
Wow.
I think about maybe 25% of all students made it to class on time this morning for classes scheduled for 10am. I was one of those lucky 25% but only because I left the flat 20 minutes early since I'd heard about the disruptions (which is not easy in the mornings when you haven't planned for such a disruption) and walked to the next stop. On high-ish heels. Which wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience, let me tell you.
What an interesting day.