Life

Happy Easter!

April 4, 2021April 4, 2021by Pooja G27 Comments

I don’t have a post today because I had a research paper to finish but I just wanted to say hi and hope you guys have a happy Easter.

I know I haven’t been responding to comments lately but I’ve been super busy but I will try to catch up to them whenever possible. I have been reading them though and I really appreciate every one of them.

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Uncategorized

Black History Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

February 27, 2021February 27, 2021by Pooja G22 Comments

Really great information in this post- I would definitely recommend giving it a read.

Tiani Angela

Happy Friday everyone! I hope all is well with you all. I’m feeling pretty good myself. As we near the end of February also known as Black History Month, I wanted to share a few lesser-known and interesting facts about Black History. This is a month that reflects and pays tribute to the achievements of generations of African Americans.

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

1.) The Black population in the United States went from being 4.8 million residents in 1870 to 43.8 million in 2018.

2.) Black History Month was originally started and celebrated as Negro History Week in 1926 by Carter G Woodson. He chose the second week of February specifically because it covered the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12th) and Frederick Douglass (February 14th).

3.) The late…

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Awards

Sunshine Blogger Award #19

July 31, 2020by Pooja G85 Comments

Thank you!

I want to thank Kae for nominating me for this award and I want to apologise for taking forever to respond. I think she has a phenomenal blog where she posts about lifestyle, travel, wellness and more. Be sure to stop by her blog and check it out by clicking here.

Rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions given to you.
Nominate 11 other bloggers and write them 11 new questions.
List the rules and display the sunshine blogger award logo in your blog post.

Questions:

1. What did you want to be when you were small?

A vet! I’ve always loved animals and wanted to be around them. However, I realised I suck at all things science so now I’m just a history major with a cat lady complex…

2. If you can live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Probably Ethiopia or Bhutan.

3. Do you hit the snooze button or wake up immediately?

Does anyone except sociopaths wake up immediately?!?

4. What are your top 3 favourite shows on Netflix? (I need Netflix recos hahah)

Lol don’t we all! My favourite right now are Dead To Me, Working Moms and Brooklyn Nine Nine.

5. What items on your bucket list are you planning to check off in the next 5 years?

A lot of travelling, a lot of stuff to do with food and a lot to do with history.

6. Do you enjoy big parties more or small gatherings?

Small gatherings- I am not a big parties person…

7. What is the best gift you have been given?

The gift of life by my mother. Also what I got on Valentines this year!

8. If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?

Invisibility because I feel invisible a lot and as someone with anxiety I’m okay with that.

9. What would you do if you win the lottery?

Buy some sneakers, donate to different animal charities and used what’s left to travel.

10. What are you most terrified of?

The dark, ghosts, butterflies, holes and just a lot of stuff in general lol.

11. If you can be one celebrity or fictional character for a day, who would it be?

Ooh that’s a good one. I would probably be Natalie Maines just because I want to know what happened with her husband on that boat. I mean she made an entire album out of it so something real crazy must have gone down and as someone who loves drama I need to know!! If you don’t know who she is she’s the lead singer of The Chicks (formerly known as The Dixie Chicks).

My Nominees

For more similar posts click here.

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Awards

Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award #5

July 27, 2020by Pooja G95 Comments

Thank you!

I want to thank nabeela for nominating me for this award! She has an awesome blog and YouTube channel that you can check out by clicking here.

Rules:

1.Thank the person who has nominated you and provide a link back to his/her blog.
2. Answer their questions.
3. Nominate up to 9 other bloggers and ask them 5 new questions.
4. Notify the nominees through their blog by visiting and commenting on their blog.
5. List the rules and display the “Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award” logo.
6. Provide the link to the Award creator.

Questions:

1. One of the incident in your childhood that still make you laugh when you think about it?

Watching cartoons- Tom and Jerry is still hilarious no matter how old I get!

2. Three qualities of yours that you are proud of?

I’m kind, ambitious and empathetic.

3. The best decisions you made in your life?

Creating this blog.

4. What was your ambition when you were a kid?

To become a vet- and as you guys know… I’m a history major now so that didn’t work out lol!

5. What is education for you?

I don’t usually have very long answers but this is something I am very opinionated about so here it goes. I feel that education is absolutely vital and necessary but the problem I have is that the education we are getting may not always be the education that we need. I think education is wonderful but I think there is so much that needs to be improved about it. As I mentioned earlier I’m a history major and as a history major I get to learn a lot of stuff in detail and that kind of made me realise how horrible history is in high school. We are so often taught a very fabricated version of the truth- not just with history but with everything. If you truly want to educate yourself I would recommend that you learn the stuff taught in school but also learn to question it and do your own research. Also pick up on life skills on your own because a lot of things you need to know as an adult will not be taught to you in school.

My Nominees

For more similar posts click here.

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Collaborations

Similarities Between Two Universities

June 18, 2020by Pooja G44 Comments

University, Student Life and Similarities

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of connecting with a fellow university student blogger called Camille. She studies in a university in France and we began talking on a post I published about the courses I had taken last semester and she had actually taken some similar ones. We started to chat further and realised that it would be really fun and interesting to compare the similarities and differences between the two universities since they are in different countries. We expected our experiences to be quite different but we ended up having quite a few similarities as well. I decided to post the similarities on my blog which you can read below and to read the differences in our experiences be sure to go over to Camille’s blog by clicking here. She is an amazing blogger and I can guarantee that you will very much enjoy her post!

1) Teachers are very knowledgeable in their field.

We found that in both universities the professors are experts in their field. They are very knowledgeable and it is clear that they know exactly what they are talking about and have done a lot of research. We found that in many ways this enhances the experience of studying under them because it’s always a plus to learn something from someone who knows what they are talking about and are an expert in that subject.

2) Teachers have their own views and opinions.

As mentioned above the professors are definitely experts in their respective fields and it is clear that they have spent a lot of time doing their research and studying in detail different aspects of the subject. As great as this can be it also has some negatives. At the end of the day the professors are people too and have their own theories and opinions about things. We found that since they are experts in their field they have quite strong views and opinions and this may make them a bit stubborn towards someone who may have a different opinion. We saw that in both cases this stopped students from fully forming their own opinion about the subject or rather fully expressing their views when they disagreed with the views of the professor and they may receive a bad grade for their honesty.

3) Many courses to choose from at both our universities but not at all universities.

We found that both our universities offered a large variety of courses in a large variety of subjects. I have talked about this before in my other posts about my courses but basically my university offers us two half credit elective courses a year so that you can take some subjects outside of your major and kind of expand your knowledge in other fields. Camille also mentioned how she was able to take different courses and broaden her knowledge in this way. I think it’s a really good idea to take other subjects especially those that may be unrelated to your major because it will help you pick up a variety of skills that you may not get from just doing courses for your major alone.

4)Interesting/unique courses

As mentioned in the last paragraph both out universities offer a number of courses and when we talked about them in more detail we realised that they both also offer a lot of unique and interesting courses. Again I have talked about this in more detail in posts I have done about my courses but my university offers a number of unique courses such as courses on country music, hip hop, the Sixties and more. Camille and I realised we both took similar courses about American History which was quite interesting.

5) Both offer scholarships but it is easier to get and apply for them in France.

Camille mentioned how scholarships are quite common and very easy to apply for and get in France at her university. In Canada, the scholarships are harder to get and there is quite a long process that goes into applying for them. Although this is technically a difference I decided to add it as a similarity because they do both offer scholarships and although it is a little harder to get the scholarship here it is not impossible to do if you work hard and do your best.

Differences?

I just wanted to remind everyone again to go over to Camille’s blog and check out the other half of this collaboration. She wrote her post about the differences between our universities and university experiences. You can check out her post by clicking here.

Your Thoughts

Let me know what you thought about the similarities between the two universities. Did you expect there to be these similarities? Did you have similar experiences at university or were your experiences different than ours? What did you think of Camille’s post that is linked above about the differences- could you relate to the differences? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
For more similar posts click here.
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Awards

The Liebster Award #15

June 14, 2020by Pooja G45 Comments

Thank you!

I want to thank Sana and Ashar for nominating me for this award. They have an amazing blog about lifestyle, health, travel and much more. Be sure to check out their blog by clicking here.

RULES

Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions given to you.
Nominate 5-11 other bloggers.
Ask your nominees 11 questions.
Notify your nominees once you have uploaded your post.

QUESTIONS

What are the best three phrases to describe yourself?
Works better under pressure, quite ambitious, tries to be kind to everyone.

Has your personality changed since childhood? What’s the reason?
Yes, of course. I think everyone changes over time especially during your teenage years. I think it’s important to change- that’s the only way you can grow.
When you’re upset or angry, what’s the worst thing that you could do?
I see red when I’m angry so I could do some pretty bad things if I was angry enough. I have worked on it though and I’m not as much of an angry person anymore but I do still occasionally get very angry.

What are you most proud of and why?
This blog because I have worked so hard on it to achieve what I have.
What’s the biggest regret of your life, and why?
Not starting to blog earlier. I wish I had started way earlier.

If you ever win a lottery for $1 Million, what’s the first thing you’d do?
I’m a giant nerd so I would probably invest it lol!
What’s your strongest and most visible personality trait?
I would say my kindness and empathy.

What’s the foremost thing you’d teach your child as a life lesson, and why?
To be empathetic and kind to all living beings.
What makes you the happiest and why?
Blogging- it’s my outlet for everything.

Do you think you’re good at overcoming your weaknesses? If yes, mention one strategy.
Yes, I try really hard to change and improve myself.
If you’d go for a world tour which destination you’d go first and why?
Europe- as a history major there are a lot of historical places I want to see.

My Nominees

If you’re reading this post and feel as though this may be something you want to participate in please consider yourself nominated and use the same questions I did- I would love to read your take on them! And if you don’t want to do an entire post dedicated to it you can leave the answers in the comments below.
For more similar posts click here.
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Email me on(guest posts welcome!): insomniacwithanaccent@gmail.com

Awards

Mystery Blogger Award #6

June 10, 2020by Pooja G49 Comments

Thank you!

I want to thank Kim for nominating me for this award. She has an amazing blog with all things books that you should definitely go over and check out by clicking here.

The Rules:

Put the award logo/image on your blog
List the rules.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify)
Share a link to your best post(s)

3 Things About Me

I love reading
I love makeup
I’m a history major

My Five Questions

Which character in a book series do you want to become… if given a chance?

Bridget Jones sounds fun!

What is the book that reminds you of your childhood?

Cherry Tree Farm by Enid Blyton.

Will you be happy to meet your fellow book bloggers around the world? Of course, after the coronavirus.

Yes absolutely!

Who is your most hated character in a book?

Holden from Catcher In The Rye- he’s the worst.

What is your favorite movie adaptation of a book?

Not a movie but I thought the BBC’s Pride And Prejudice miniseries with Colin Firth was really good. Especially because they stayed true to the book. I also loved the Bridget Jones movies!

My Nominees

For more similar posts click here.

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Uncategorized

Interesting People I’ve Learnt About

June 4, 2020by Pooja G49 Comments

Why I Decided To Write About These Interesting People In Particular

I had been meaning to do a post on the interesting people that I have learnt about in my classes so far for a while now. However, with everything going on right now I thought I would share some information about interesting African American people that I have learnt about. I admire the more famous figures that we hear about often but I thought I would also include some lesser known people because people who don’t study history may not have heard about them.

Phyllis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784)

I first heard/learnt about her in my American Enlightenment class. She was from West Africa and was sold to a Bostonian as a slave when she was a child. Her owner taught her how to read and write and she soon became really good at both. She soon began reading things that had Enlightenment and Revolution ideology and also began writing her own poetry. She became the first African American to author a poetry book. She also faced a lot of criticism for her writing as many refused to believe an African American could write so well and even had to defend her writing in court. For more on her click here.

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)

He had little formal education but was taught to read by his grandmother and as a child became an avid reader. He also became interested in Maths and engineering. As an adult he became interested in learning more about astronomy. He also caught the interest of many Americans at the time and eventually became a surveyor. He went on to author almanacs that were became quite famous at the time. For more on him click here.

O. B McClinton (1940-1987)

He was one of the few African American country musicians. The reason I added him to this list is because he was also the only African American country musician that actually addressed racism in the music industry and in the country music genre in particular. He put out multiple songs about the reaction he gets when listeners realise he’s black and the problems he faces as a African American in the music business/country music genre. He remains one of the few people that spoke out and did not shy away from the topic of race and racism. For more on him click here.

Melba Pattillo Beals (1941-present)

She is best know for being one of the Little Rock Nine. These were the first African American students who attended Little Rock Central High School when it was integrated. I picked her book Warriors Don’t Cry to review for one of my American History classes and reading it really brought tears to my eyes. The way these children were treated and everything they went through really opens your eyes to the injustices that black people face in America. I would highly recommend reading Warriors Don’t Cry along with her other writing. For more about her click here.
I also wanted to share these videos that I have come across in my classes that I thought were worth sharing at this time.

Let me know who your favourite African American historical figure is in the comments below.

For similar posts click here.
If you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!
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Awards

Liebster Award #3

May 15, 2020by Pooja G57 Comments

I want to thank Nabeela for nominating me for this award and I apoligise that it took forever for me to publish this post! She has a really great lifestyle blog that you can check out by clicking here.

Rules of the Award:

Thank the blogger who nominated you, and provide a link to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions given to you.
Share 11 facts about yourself.
Nominate 5-11 other bloggers.
Ask your nominees 11 questions.
Notify your nominees once you have uploaded your post.

11 facts about me :

I love Star Wars
I love all things History
Pride and Prejudice is my favourite book
My favourite colours are pink, blue and black
I love all things makeup
I’m a student in university
I’m a history major
I’m afraid of the dark
I’m not sure why but I feel cold ALL the time
I love reading
I want to become a professional blogger at some point

My Questions :

1. One thing you learned during this stay at home period?

That you can run out of things to watch if you really put your mind to it.

2. The best and worst moment in your life?

The best- all the times spent with people I love. And that one time someone was mean to me in high school and then karma hit them like a bus 🤷‍♀️

The worst- my teenage years were kind of rough.

3. One habit that you want to change?

I want to be better at controlling my emotions.

4. The person that influenced you?

My friends and parents are my biggest influence.

5. What is friendship for you?

This is going to sound kind of cliche but I’ve realised that the people who want to be a part of your life will stay in your life no matter what and the ones who don’t will abandon you as soon as they don’t need you anymore. It’s also not about talking every single day or being close to one another all the time- it’s about the connection, it’s about making the time to remain in each others lives even if you just talk once in a while.

6. Tell about one funny incident that happened recently in your life?

One time I was watching a crappy horror movie while trimming my brows and it was so bad it made me laugh and I accidentally trimmed off like a chunk of my brow and now I have a random bald spot on my brow. And not the cool kind that make you look all gansta. I literally just look like something went wrong and a bit of my brow is missing.

7. What makes you happy?

Food lol. And all of you guys of course!

8. One movie that made you think a lot?

The Lorax.

9. One secret that you are ready to reveal here?

It’s not a secret but not a lot of people know this- I have teeth under my adult teeth.

10. Friends that you made by blogging?

Omg there are honestly so many amazing bloggers out there that I would call a friend. Recently I’ve really enjoyed talking to Tiani– she is so sweet, genuine, down to Earth and we have so much in common so she’s someone I find easy to talk to. Definitely check out her blog if you haven’t already- it’s incredible! There’s also Erin and Leona who are both absolutely incredible bloggers and really great people that I would highly recommend checking out! There are so many more but I’m going to have to do a whole post if I mention everyone- which I will soon!

11. Your expectation about your girlfriend/boyfriend?

They need to be kind, caring, and patient (because I am seriously the worst when it comes to relationships tbh).

My Nominees

For more similar posts click here.

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Uncategorized

My Courses Reviewed

May 13, 2020by Pooja G53 Comments

I had such an amazing time at university this semester but I was quite sad that we could not properly finish any of the courses the way we should have due to everything that happened in March/April which forced the university to stop in class lessons. However, I definitely understand that the decision the university made to shut down all in class stuff was for the best. Even though we could not properly finish the courses properly at university this semester I decided to still do a review for my courses since they have all been so great. I feel like I have really enjoyed almost all the courses I’ve taken at university so far but this year may be the best ones so far. Last semester I was able to take some really unique courses like a course on country music, archaeology and more. For more on that click here. And this semester I was again able to take some unique and interesting courses at university. I’m super thankful that my university offers such unique and interesting courses because I know not all universities do this and a lot of universities do tend to have a much more rigid syllabus. However, our university is pretty liberal about what courses it offers and what courses you can take and I am truly lucky to be able to take such interesting and fun ones. I always like to take courses about topics I don’t know a lot about or that I have not studied earlier because I think that helps me broaden my knowledge and teaches me new things which in my opinion is what university should be all about. Oh and all the courses I took this semester were history courses because my university only allows you to take two electives every year and I used up my electives last semester. Anyway here is my review of the courses I took this semester:

The Sixties- This was my favourite course that I have taken at university so far! It was such a phenomenal course and I learnt so much from it. The professor was really good- she was super nice and understanding and definitely knew what she was talking about- and the content was something I was already interested in so I found it absolutely fascinating. I have always been interested in the counterculture, 60’s music and the New Left so it was really interesting to learn more about it especially through primary sources I had never read before. One of my favourite sources was the letter by Janis Joplin sent to her mother where she is fangirling over George Harrison from The Beatles because honestly I get it- he was gorgeous! It was also really interesting to see how it wasn’t just mindless rebellious behaviour, it was so much more than that and it was also the foundation to the 70’s and the groups that emerged in the 70’s. I am definitely really happy my university offers a class on the Sixties because it is so specific and so interesting.

Middle Eastern Culture- I really enjoyed this course too! I had never taken a course about the Middle East before and to be honest I did not know too much about their culture and history so this was really fascinating and eyeopening. The only thing is that because of the whole Corona situation we couldn’t finish the course the way we were supposed to and I was really sad because there were some really interesting topics I ended up not being able to learn about properly. One thing that I really appreciated about this course apart from the stuff I mentioned earlier was that it was taught by someone who was Middle Eastern and therefore had experienced a lot of what she was teaching first hand. And she also tried to mainly use primary sources that were unbiased and more descriptive rather than opinion based which was really great. We were able to see the Middle East more realistically and draw our own conclusions based on the information she provided. We also spent approximately half of each class watching a video about the topic we were discussing which was very helpful as no one in the class had been to the Middle East and the videos allowed us to experience their culture more accurately.

The American Revolution- I have taken like every single course this professor has taught and as you guys know I really enjoy learning American history because I have never learnt American history before university. I really loved learning about the Revolution in detail even though I had learn about it in previous American History courses. I thought it was particularly interesting because my professor taught us a lot about not just the more famous figures but also regular people. I think we tend to forget to underestimate the role of “ordinary” people in battles and revolutions and it was fascinating to see their point of view for a change.
Women In China- This was another one of my favourite courses! I haven’t learnt much Chinese history before but I did take one other class with the same professor and really loved it so I decided to take this one. I’m also very interested in Sociology and Women and Gender Studies so since this was like a cross between those I thought it would be perfect. I particularly enjoyed this course because of how the professor taught it. I’ve said this before but this professor focuses on making sure we learn and understand the content instead of focusing on research paper or assignments and I truly appreciate that. Plus, his content is always fascinating and so well researched.
Hope you guys enjoyed that little review! I know I couldn’t review them fully due to our university not having in-class stuff anymore but I tried my best to review the course as much as I could depending on how much I had learnt before the quarantine. Let me know in the comments below what your favourite courses were at university/college or if you would take any of the courses I took!
For more similar posts click here.
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