Random whining

So...
This post is dedicated to all the people who have been wondering why I haven't been posting anything in March. I have jot down a few experiences out of the ones I have had in the past month and done with them what I do best: whine... It's ok I love my life and I know I don't have a rough one either: in fact I'm grateful for everything I have. However, I am writing my whinings here in the hope that my experience might be useful little advices (or things to think about) to some readers.

Reminder: Please remember that no one is forcing you to read all my points so stop reading as soon as it gets to be too much whining for you in one go.

• Group interviews: BEWARE of them. I hope one day it will be a banned practise. You are in a room with other people who are applying for the same job as you. At the same time, you have to BOTH be nice to them and engage with them AND compete. It is, I believe, very inhumane. And generally sad. And at the end of it you have schizophrenic thoughts like "Well, what a nice bunch of people...oh I hope I get the job...oh what a lovely person good luck to her...oh no maybe not?!?"

• Ryanair's terravision bus from London Victoria: where does it leave from? Yes, I've also been travelling a lot this past month and I've had to do it in the middle of the night, as the takeoff time of the plane was around 6AM. Buses from Victoria leave regularly at night, making it possible for the sleepless ones to get to the airport on time. However, the Ryanair buses leave from 2 different bays...and online or on the ticket you print at home there isn't a way to find out from which bay the bus leaves. I suggest you go to the Terravision Cafe' (which is in between the 2 bays) and you ask the person to give you the little leaflet where the buses that leave from bay 2 are highlighted in blue. Or follow the blog and I'll take a pic of my leaflet soon so you can find it here.

• NHS, some help please? Recently I've felt my knee funny and dull pain. To sum up, after having been twice to two different healthcare practices and after following their advice (i.e. "take ibuprofen, put some ice and keep it elevated but you can walk just don't put too much weight on it") none of the nurses or the doctors I have seen has done further analysis on it. My knee  started to swell and properly hurt, nevermind the discomfort. I now know it is a problem with my patella and they didn't discover it at all and never helped me to find a specialist that would. And that is nothing: a friend of mine was in pain, called an ambulance and they asked her 3 times the same kind of information. All they were worried about was where she was living, not how she was feeling. She was left sitting on a chair, somewhere just like that. I mean, come on NHS! I've found a few nice receptionists and nurses but really, the majority of the people that has seen me haven't been helpful. :(

Can you relate to any of the points above?

Do you have something to moan about?

Comment below!

BBC's Great British Class Propaganda

You remember when in the movie V for Vendetta the British government official starts dictating what to do in the media to help manipulate people's opinions and keep the dictatorship in place? Maybe the Great British Class Calculator should have been in the movie as an exemplar tool that seems fun but really, is changing your perception of things and directing people to make certain propagandistic cultural assumptions.

Call me conspiracy-lover, but I think there are the assumptions that are embedded in the discourse of the little interactive system. Assumption which make us think more about our differences rather than what we have in common as people living in the UK.

Here they are:

1. First assumption: our social system is made up of social classes.
Don't get me wrong loads of people do want us to believe that, in the UK in particular, there is this social class system within which people always try to categorise themselves. However, is it there really or are the differences merging?


2. Second assumption: everyone who takes the "test" is going to be categorised so everyone is part of a class.
What about people from abroad living in the UK? No test is going to be able to measure each person's individuality. The BBC is blatantly ignoring the opinions of real people that have taken the test. Just read the comments here to see what users say.

Apart from the test's questionable validity, SHOULD any tool measure people's individuality?
It took me ages but I eventually did realise that being different is never a bad thing...thank goodness we aren't all the same! It is true: psychologically we sometimes need to use our brain to categorise people because it helps us remember more...but society never helps us grow out of this childish and inaccurate habit of ours! Why shouldn't we grow out of it? Life is, thankfully, more complicated than that. Do not just see your neighbour as your neighbour: you might miss the fact that he goes to the same gym you do, he's got interesting political opinions and (why not) he might even have interesting salsa moves! He is a human being after all, and as a human being his life is more than just being the neighbour of yours.


3. Third assumption: classes are acceptable social categories worth studying.
If the BBC spends money and time to make it, then the assumption is it must be worth knowing about. Is it really? Why is the fact that there are classes in place always worth mentioning before any event that has (or is) uniting people in some sort of way?

I suggest you being more inquisitive when it comes to things like that.
Do not fall for it. Do not give these discursive elements for granted.
Think with your own head.

The day in which one human life is worth more than another one is today.
The mentality is in place. I find this much more worth talking about than what my result is on the flippin' social class calculator.

UK vs. Romania+Bulgaria: REALLY?

Have you heard of the latest international affairs between UK and Romania?

Apparently, in order to discourage Romanians and Bulgarians (yea, they were thrown into the same box) from coming into Great Britain, the UK government was thinking of doing a negative ad campaign in the two countries emphasising, in other words, why the UK sucks. The Guardian's article points out that it would be kinda counterproductive, since the UK has spent loads of money to try and bring its own reputation up for the 2012 Olympics.

Well, quite funnily, readers from "The Guardian" were asked to contribute to the campaign that might be put in place and guess what? Results were (surprisingly?) good. And it's not over yet. Romanians also went ahead and started producing a campaign that basically said "you know what? Definitely don't go to the UK...come here instead". Read and see for yourself: some of the posters are quite hilarious.

Anyway, disregarding the funny side of things for a moment...what is really going on? First of all, should the UK government really spend its time advertising how bad Great Britain is? How could they not predict a backfire of viral proportions in this day and age? Isn't the world is globalised enough that if you tell Romanians and Bulgarians not to come...French, Germans and Spanish people might find out about it and actually do the same? Dear UK, if you don't want that to happen, you might want to consider making your campaign quite specific. You know, maybe try something like: "The sun shines for everyone in ol' England...except for Bulgarians and Romanians that is". Oh wait...that's a tiny bit discriminatory.

Come on....why would you even consider something like this? I understand that a lot of Bulgarians and Romanians are already in the country and if not, might be thinking of coming to the UK...and I understand that immigrants are an issue for many reasons. But, is this how the government really should tackle the problem?

There are already many measures in place so to discourage non-Europeans...and believe me, I know this quite well. Because even if I am European I have had to see my very talented international friends (incredibly smart people with a lot of enthusiasm, positive ideas and courage)...struggle to stay or even leave. Objectively, they would have been a great resource for the country.

But let's not play games here: Bulgaria and Romania are European countries and you cannot possibly change that. The UK already has policies in place that discourage Romanians and Bulgarians to come in or stay: let those speak for themselves. You do not need to think of campaigns to make yourself look bad because the moment you do, you are not only discriminating...but you are bringing yourself down as a country. Literally. On purpose.

This is coming from a European who has been living in the UK for years now...and has amazing English friends and (apart from the weather) is thankful to live here. For now...'cause international policies like these make me doubt the tactfulness and the basic human understanding of the country's leaders. It's not its people, it's not its cities...but dear UK: you need to work on your national hospitality.