Culture Days

Hello everybody! Since we had our culture days on Monday 16^th and Tuesday 17^th where every student had to hold a presentation about a topic of American or Irish Culture and attend at least 10 other presentations as well as share our experience on our blogs that’s what I’m going to do right now. Of these 10 presentations I mentioned above we had to choose 7 American topics and 3 Irish topics.
 
So here are the ones that I attended:
 

Irish presentations: (actually I even managed to watch four of them though I was afraid at first that I couldn’t manage to go to the three assigned one due to my tight schedule)

 
Polar Opposites: To be honest I didn’t really have any idea what this topic was about until I watched the presentation and I simply chose it because it fitted perfectly in my schedule. However, it really turned out to be very interesting and Katrina really did a great job explaining everything.
 
Irish Intelligence at its peak: I chose this topic because I wanted to know a little bit more about Ireland’s secret service which is quite fascinating. I surely learned a lot of new facts that I didn’t know before.
 
The Fenian Brotherhood and their raids on Canada: This subject surely captured my attention and I was quite surprised since I didn’t know that the Irish had such a huge influence on Canada. Theresa really managed to break down the most important ideas in a very understandable way.

Monica Loughman – Ballet in Ireland: I especially liked this presentation because it was so different from all the other tackled topics. Though, I myself never really was interested in ballet, I found the presentation very intriguing and Anja really did a great job bringing across her topic.
 

American presentations: (I watched 10 American presentations in total and if I had had more time I would have probably attended even more ;) )
 
Same-sex marriage: I really was looking forward to this presentation because I wanted to know what Miriam has to say about it. I already knew that the situation for couples of the same sex who want to get married is worse than here in Austria but I didn’t know that conservative states such as Alabama don’t even accept already married couples.

Two Famous American Women Poets: To be honest, I never heard of neither Emily Dickinson nor Maya Angelou before. Nonetheless, I knew from the start that I wanted to attend this presentation, not only because Magdalena is my best friend but also because I wanted to know a little bit more about these two women poets. And I was not disappointed. Both women were truly fascinating personalities. What I liked best about the presentation was the reading of the poems.
 
Massacre at Virginia Tech: The reason I chose to watch this topic is because it is also connected to my own topic, America’s Gun Culture. Though, I’ve already heard a lot about shootings in America since they are all over the news, it still shocks me to hear the full extent of them nonetheless. Anyway, in my opinion Barbara really did well especially explaining the real reasons for similar shootings – mental illnesses not media violence or violent video games.
 
Flappers: Before attending this presentation I looked the expression “Flappers” up on google because it didn’t mean anything to me. When I found out that it’s about women in the 20s breaking out of conventions I was immediately interested. What I really liked about the delivery was that Julia showed up in the complete costume and explained everything thoroughly.
 
The Smurfs are real: To be honest I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this presentation and really was surprised that it’s about a disease. What I really liked is that Jasmin didn’t make an all-serious presentation, on the contrary she managed to keep it funny from the beginning to the end.
 
The role of religion in the US education system: Religion has always been a controversial topic especially when mixed with education. I found it shocking to hear that people actually take their children out of school just because they don’t believe in science and evolution. Overall, it was a very interesting presentation even though Vid talked a little too fast but that was simply nervousness (which I can fully understand, I was extremely nervous myself)

The US-Mexican Border Woes: I already heard about the US-Mexican border being very restricted and well guarded but I simply couldn’t imagine that it was so extreme. Especially learning all the different measure that are taken to prevent Mexicans from entering the US was horrifying. In my opinion Judith managed to present all the different aspects of this topic in a very compelling and understandable way.

 
CIA – Project MKUltra: At first, I had no idea that this topic is dealing with mind control and I was stunned since I thought similar things only happen in science fiction movies. All the facts that David informed us about were both interesting and eye-opening. All in all, I think he did a great job explaining this little known topic.

Women for women – The will to lead: I really was looking forward to hearing more about this topic since it is very up-to-date and deals with a problem women are facing all over the world. What really shocked me is that the situation for women in America is even worse than I expected it to be. The only consoling fact is that women such as Michelle Obama and Sheryl Sandberg are trying to improve the situation by showing that women can be in leading positions too. In my opinion the presentation Sabrina gave was intriguing and mind-blowing.

F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby: I was anticipating this presentation since I already watched the movie and wanted to know a little bit more about the book and its writer as well. I was definitely not disappointed and I think that Verena did an amazing job presenting this topic.


Since I also have to select 5 topics out of the American presentations that I want to be tested on the KGP, I’ll present my choice here in no particular order:

1. Women for women – The will to lead
2. The role of religion in the US education system
3. Flappers
4. US-Mexican Border Woes
5. CIA – Project MKUltra

I hope the range of my chosen topics is wide enough.