Monday 23 September 2013

Gardening, Gun Debates, and the City that Never Sleeps

Having been here 5 weeks now I feel pretty settled, almost like I was used to whatever the United States could throw at me. Then again, this is the U.S, and it was saddening but honestly not surprising to see another mass shooting in America story on the news. Although with it taking place in the Navy Yard in Washington D.C., this was a bit closer to home. What was surprising to me was the seemingly overwhelming opinion of common sense in both the television shows and talking to American students on campus. Everyone seems to know the absurdity of the lax gun laws and the need for further restrictions. Its extraordinary to me that in 2013, 10 months after Sandy Hook this is even still an issue.

Fortunately, on campus things are going well, even if the hard work has started in force. As part of our Global Crossings course we got involved on campus by helping out on the campus garden. The early start on Saturday morning wasn't appreciated, but I did enjoy the outdoor work. I'd never done it before, but it was quite satisfying breaking up the soil and planting some vegetables. Marwan and Sam's improvised blues songs helped get us through it as well! As for the classes, a pattern is emerging of hugely interesting content being held back by huge amounts of reading. For example, in my Sport class we had 2 weeks to read an entire 300 page book and write a paper on it, in addition to our standard reading each week. In Presidents, we are covering 4-5 Presidents each week and its difficult to keep up with the teaching when class ends at 10pm. The interest varies greatly; for every Lincoln or Washington, there's a Taylor or Fillmore that learning is a real struggle. I'm having no such issues with History of the Media, which is a great balance of history, political science and philosophy. The discussions mean its closest to the seminar-style of studying at Leicester, and the first exam went pretty well (even if I'm doing exams before most people in England have gone back to uni!).


Maybe the most interesting class at the moment, even if its the most difficult, is Art Now. After skimming through art history and moving onto abstract expressionism, I'm really gaining a new perspective and understanding on modern art. The assessments coming up may be terrifying but its worth it to study this in depth. Part of the appeal of doing American Studies when you can pick your own classes is studying things you never would at home. And seeing the art over here is brilliant- from Rothko to Monet through Kandinsky and best of all Van Gogh. Seeing their work up close and with the new understanding from my art class has been a fantastic experience.


Most of those paintings I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a great part of a great day. Because last Saturday I finally visited the most iconic city in America for the first time, and to paraphrase Woody Allen, I adored New York City. While D.C. feels like an entire monument itself, full of history and clean but not lived in, NYC is the opposite. The skyscrapers really are that tall, Times Square really is that busy, the subway really is that grim (not a patch on the tube). But otherwise it reminded me a lot of London- huge buildings of concrete and glass next to old churches and apartments. In Central Park you could almost forget that you were in the middle of Manhattan. We only spent 7 hours there so didn't see much- although somehow found time to visit the giant Toys R Us! It was a fantastic day though, and I'll definitely make time for a longer visit later in the year.



A

No comments:

Post a Comment