Blog 1-Once Upon a Time...

Hi, my name is Bridget, and I'm a sophomore at North.  I guess there's not much to say because everyone always says we learn by experiencing things, but I'll try to tell you about myself in a nutshell.  I'm Irish.  Yes, I have been to Ireland.  No, I have never seen a leprechaun, but I'll let you know when I do.  My favorite color is fire engine red, my favorite movie is The Breakfast Club, and my favorite song is Let It Be by The Beatles.  I play soccer and tennis, but mostly soccer.  My favorite soccer team is Chelsea FC, and my favorite tennis player is Rafael Nadal.  I have an older brother who is 20, and I live with both of my parents. My outlook on life is that you only get one, so why not stretch its limits and see how far you can go?  

The Breakfast Club.  Clockwise, from top left: John Bender (the criminal), Andrew Clark (the athlete), Claire Standish (the princess), Brian Johnson (the brain), and Allison Reynolds (the basketcase).

I signed up for this course not only because I really want to go to Australia and New Zealand, but because I also want to gain an understanding and another point of view of how Australians live.  I have no idea as to what they eat for breakfast, or where they go on vacation, or what time they eat dinner, or how they came to live on the island.  And that's really why I'm here; I want to know.  If I'm going to visit, I might as well have some insight into their culture.  Besides, a half of a history credit isn't too bad either.

I hope that traveling abroad will show me just who I am and why I am the way I am.  I hope that looking at another culture and being submerged in it will help me understand the American culture among others.  I'm also hoping to learn just how good I am with rolling with the punches.  At times I can be either very lax and chill, but at other times, I'm wound tighter than a spring and an absolute perfectionist, so I would love to know which one I am the majority of the time.  I think that traveling abroad will reveal just what type of person I am and how I cope with the not-so-awesome situations, as well as how others deal with them too.

The Sydney Opera House!

I have never been to Australia or New Zealand, and I know next to nothing about their culture, including cuisine, daily routines, where they vacation, where they dream of traveling, and what they do on their own time.  I also really like the idea of going to the Great Barrier Reef and seeing the Sydney Opera House as well as other landmarks because these are things you only hear of and see static pictures of.  I personally like to see people and things moving, to be there, to live it, and to observe it.  For instance, when you see pictures of the Eiffel Tower, you only see the view from the top and the tower itself.  You never see the vendors beneath trying to sell you cheap key chains or ice cream cones or postcards.  That is exactly what fascinates me about other places; the people that live there and use these landmarks to their advantage.

I think that learning about a place before you visit can make an experience much more exciting because you actually know about where or what you're visiting.  As you learn about where you're going, it really makes it real and it gets you pumped for the trip.  It's also important to learn the history because you appreciate the experience so much more than if you just know what's written on the plaques because you can be looking at something and just think, hey, we talked about this in class, and I can really see how this is an important feature.  The whole trip is just that much more valuable.