So as I said in the last post, tonight we started our culture modules, which I was very excited to do...here's a little background as to why: Mark (our main culture professor) described our 3 options (Sporting, Aborigines, Cultural Transmissions) and how only 20 people could be in each one (there's 70 of us total...well, some are education interns so they had different modules). Everyone got a sign up sheet where we had to rank our choices, and we would be placed according to the time we turned them in the following morning (the front desk opens at 9 am). As one could imagine, most people wanted the sport class, especially the 20 or so guys in the program, so everyone decided to get there early the next morning to insure their spot.
Well...after going to bed around 6:30 am (don't ask why....it's way too long of a story) I still managed to wake up at 8:55 and get to BUSC (Boston University Sydney Center) to turn my paper in...still in my pj pants mind you. I was early enough to get into the sporting section (it was close though, there were only a few spots left...there were people waiting at the door when they opened)
Point is...I put some serious effort into getting this class because it sounded the best, and I actually have genuine interest in it. However, with all this being said, after the 1st hour of fairly entertaining discussion about our impression of Australian culture and what we think the definition of "sport" is...our professor/speaker/module leader(?) continued with the rest of the lecture/PowerPoint.
who knew some thing as exciting as Australian sporting culture could be turned into one of the most brain numbing lectures? i sure didn't until tonight. I give him some credit in that a lot of it was pretty dry background history of the first associations of a bunch of different sports and other time lines, but still. First impression after the intro=not so fun.
o yea, and he assigned us alphabetically into groups for our presentations next Thursday and gave us our topic. mine is: To what extent do Australians take sport too seriously?
personally i wanted the one about the difference between rugby league and rugby union (i really wanna figure that out!) but whatever...
Here's hoping tomorrow's field trip to Bondi Beach is fun...I hope he can't ruin the fun of a beach like he did sports :/
much love,
Moni
PS...Cassie gave me a hint to make these shorter...again I find my self apologizing to everyone - I tend to rant. so sorry it's long, I guess once I start one, I just keep writing...
