Time
It is amazing how much time grips me, and probably the average American. Time to get up, time to take a shower, time to get something to eat, time to go to work, time to leave from work, and the list goes on and on. As I was prepping for my trip, one of the things on my to do list was to decide if I was going to get an international mobile plan so I can continue to stay in touch while I was gone. After hearing of the cost, I began wrestling with the idea if this would indeed be the first time I would actually turn off my phone, unable to make calls, check my email, read the news, read status updates in Facebook, and so on…*&%# the smart phone anyhow. I guess I didn’t realize how much my phone and the corresponding sense and use of time had gripped me.
Day 1 in Cyprus and I didn’t know what time it was when I woke up. Believe it or not, I reached for my phone, to check the time, read the news headlines, and so on. Oops…can’t use it. Never did turn on the phone plan. I wonder what time it is? I open the shades, look out, and realize that it is morning. A bright and cheery day on this ancient island. Wait a minute…are those birds singing? I got up and since we got here when it was dark, I decided to head out and see what the light would show me. What would this new day bring? What time was it? I didn’t know and although I had a little internal panic attack for feeling out of touch, the birds singing, and the ragged yet beautiful landscape began to draw me in…I simply didn’t care anymore…
I would like to add that, although we ralrey acknowledge it as such, challenges to scientific research exist in the West as well. Although it should be obvious that the West doesn’t face the material challenges less wealthy nations in this world might, our pursuit of scientific knowledge is far from free.Consider that private corporations are the source of funding for a significant percentage of research studies. I don’t need to say that these private interests are far from impartial. The effect of this corporate influence on science is ralrey overt (although cases of crass and obvious tampering of data do exist), but it is substantial. Data that contradicts a company’s PR line may never be published or a study that could generate such data might not ever even be successfully funded. This is not to say that this type of thing is ubiquitous, but I believe that the West must acknowledge that its own pursuit of science is not without such challenges .Sorry I ranted, but reading your post just brought this up. Hope you are having fun in the UK!
Thanks for the comment Charles. I agree that the West face slimiar scientific challenges. I wanted to acknowledge in the post that the research that some students do abroad are relevant to scientific challenges of their country of origin. ex. I noticed Indonesian delegates presenting agriculture related research, while Japanese delegates presented nuclear related research.
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