This week, Monday and Tuesday, we, the students from the second semester English course, had each to hold a presentation about either an American or Irish culture topic. I myself talked about Emily Dickinson and Maya Angelou as two famous American poets. But right now I don’t want to let you know what I talked about but instead which presentation I went to listen to and why.
The first presentation I watched was on Monday at 10:10 with the title Same-sex marriage (American culture). Personally I am very interested in topics regarding different sexual orientations as well as different gender identities which is why I decided to see what my fellow student had to say about same-sex marriage in the US. Maybe it was because the topic wasn’t new to me or out of some other reason but the presentation didn’t get me as I hoped she would. I found it rather dry as many facts were mentioned but not really talked about how the laws passed affect the people.
Later I continued at 11:00 on Monday with a presentation called Ernest Hemingway. I chose that topic because my own presentation dealt with two writer. I was positively surprised at how funny and interesting the presentation was. To be honest I never really cared about Hemingway, never even read anything he wrote, but now I really feel like I should. And even if it turns out that I don’t like his work he seemed like a very fascinating person, especially the way he tended to excessively re-write his work.
The third presentation I went to was straight after the second one and had the title Native American Languages. How could I, as a language student, resist a presentation with that title? This presentation was by far one of my favourite. I didn’t really expect much as I thought it would just get to hear a list of facts but was gravely mistaken. Even though I sometimes had trouble understanding what was said because of the accent of the person giving the presentation it was still great. It wasn’t only informative but also funny and I don’t think anyone else was that taken with their topic and talked about with a fascination like that. Certainly a presentation to remember.
The next presentation I went to was the one right after mine dealt with the topic America’s Gun Culture - Why American’s are so obsessed with Guns. It’s a much discussed topic and certainly not the last. Not only did I want to listen to my friends presentation but was also interested in what she was going to talk about. It was quite the interesting change as she tried to stay objective and not take a side. I do have to admit that this is quite difficult especially as someone who opposes guns and gun possession. Only in the end did she talk about what happens if guns get into the wrong hands.
Right after that I watched a similar presentation with the topic Massacre at Virginia Tech. Personally I was interested in how the two gun related presentation I listened to would differ from one another. In contrast to the first presentation the second one had a more negative view of gun possession, which is absolutely not surprising. The second one also showed how much easier it is to simply invent some knew early warning system than to do something against the actual problem, guns.
The first presentation I watched was on Monday at 10:10 with the title Same-sex marriage (American culture). Personally I am very interested in topics regarding different sexual orientations as well as different gender identities which is why I decided to see what my fellow student had to say about same-sex marriage in the US. Maybe it was because the topic wasn’t new to me or out of some other reason but the presentation didn’t get me as I hoped she would. I found it rather dry as many facts were mentioned but not really talked about how the laws passed affect the people.
Later I continued at 11:00 on Monday with a presentation called Ernest Hemingway. I chose that topic because my own presentation dealt with two writer. I was positively surprised at how funny and interesting the presentation was. To be honest I never really cared about Hemingway, never even read anything he wrote, but now I really feel like I should. And even if it turns out that I don’t like his work he seemed like a very fascinating person, especially the way he tended to excessively re-write his work.
The third presentation I went to was straight after the second one and had the title Native American Languages. How could I, as a language student, resist a presentation with that title? This presentation was by far one of my favourite. I didn’t really expect much as I thought it would just get to hear a list of facts but was gravely mistaken. Even though I sometimes had trouble understanding what was said because of the accent of the person giving the presentation it was still great. It wasn’t only informative but also funny and I don’t think anyone else was that taken with their topic and talked about with a fascination like that. Certainly a presentation to remember.
The next presentation I went to was the one right after mine dealt with the topic America’s Gun Culture - Why American’s are so obsessed with Guns. It’s a much discussed topic and certainly not the last. Not only did I want to listen to my friends presentation but was also interested in what she was going to talk about. It was quite the interesting change as she tried to stay objective and not take a side. I do have to admit that this is quite difficult especially as someone who opposes guns and gun possession. Only in the end did she talk about what happens if guns get into the wrong hands.
Right after that I watched a similar presentation with the topic Massacre at Virginia Tech. Personally I was interested in how the two gun related presentation I listened to would differ from one another. In contrast to the first presentation the second one had a more negative view of gun possession, which is absolutely not surprising. The second one also showed how much easier it is to simply invent some knew early warning system than to do something against the actual problem, guns.
Following that I listened to a quite amusing presentation about the Flappers. I never heard about the term ‘flapper’ but decided I would just let myself get educated and listen to what the young lady, dressed as a flapper, had to say. The presentation was quite amusing and the woman dressed up as a flapper was only one part of it. I am glad to have visited this presentation as I have yet again learned something else about women culture.
The last American culture topic I listened to was on Tuesday at 10:30 with the title Women for Women - The will to lead. Even though I am really interested in feminism and equality, this presentation wasn’t really what I expected it to be. There were quite some things I already knew or wasn’t unfamiliar with. Nevertheless, it was still an interesting presentation as learned a bit about Sheryl Sandberg and might have to research her myself a bit.
After I all those American culture topics I went to see three Irish culture presentations and the first one was Irish as an official EU language. Even though this was yet again a very interesting topic the presentation itself wasn’t very convincing. Sadly I don’t even have a handout as there were too few for the audience which means that I can’t write much about this presentation besides not having been satisfied.
After I all those American culture topics I went to see three Irish culture presentations and the first one was Irish as an official EU language. Even though this was yet again a very interesting topic the presentation itself wasn’t very convincing. Sadly I don’t even have a handout as there were too few for the audience which means that I can’t write much about this presentation besides not having been satisfied.
The presentation following the last one was David Norris’ contribution to the LGBT Rights in the Republic of Ireland. I really liked this presentation not only because it dealt with LGBT rights but also because I felt like the person presenting really knew what she was talking about. It was also very informative and engaging.
The last presentation of the Culture Days I went to had the title Is Irish a dying language?. This was a very interesting presentation dealing with a language that is slowly disappearing, even in it’s own Country. I am really fascinated with dying languages and am going to look further into that matter. I also believe that every language is important and should be preserved. For someone who likes to learn about less common languages this was a great presentation.
Last but not least I want to announce which of the American culture presentations I would like to choose for my first big exam at university. As I do not want to talk about guns I would like to talk about Same-sex marriage, Ernest Hemingway, Native American Languages, Flappers and Women for women - The will to lead.
The reasons why I want those to be my topic at the KGP are that they are all very interesting and I am going to enjoy learning more about them. They were also the ones I liked best from the American culture presentations I have watched.
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