finally putting the "study" in "study abroad"

i finally started classes today! i know, what have i been doing for the past month? vacation, that's what. i realize this is unfair, but now i am finally beginning the studying part of my study abroad experience.

my classes:

- religions past and present

- making of the modern middle east

- africa: making of a continent to 1800

- the new millenium in historical perspective

i had all four of them today, and although it was just the introductory, handing-out-the-syllabi day, they all seemed really interesting and i'm eager to start getting into the material. i think i'm excited mostly because they are all classes unlike any i have taken in college, since i take primarily science classes at home. it kind of makes me wonder, because although i love my nutrition major, i'm so interested in so many other areas... which i guess is good, but i always feel like there's some other path i'd like to take as well.

today in each of my classes i noticed how aware everybody is of the united states. what i mean by that is that my professors mention the united states frequently, either because they're talking about certain universities, or policies, or presidents, or historical/current events. the US just comes up in conversation quite frequently here. it struck me that because i'm from the US, people all over the world are familiar with the issues going on in my home country, but the reverse is generally not true. i then tried to imagine what it would be like to be from a more obscure country and study in a more developed country; even if a south african came to the united states, it would be rare for them to be in an american class in which an american professor frequently brought up south african issues, unless the class dealt specifically with africa.

it made me feel kind of selfish, kind of narrow-minded, kind of spoiled, because no matter where i go, people are familiar with my country. on the flip side, i (unfortunately) know very little about current south african politics or other issues, and that makes me feel like a stereotypical american, one who expects everyone else to know about them but doesn't know anything about anybody else. this is basically one of the primary reasons i wanted so badly to study in another country, to learn more about other parts of the world and get a different perspective on life in general. 

i'm not worried about me, because i know that the time i spend here is going to inevitably give me a more well-rounded perspective on certain things. the most fascinating thing to me is to look at america from this angle; to see what others see, how america affects other countries all the time, and how we, as US citizens, don't even realize it. this is a very preliminary observation, i realize, and maybe my opinions on this will change, but it's really struck me so far.

on the last page of the syllabus for my "making of the modern middle east" class is a picture of bush ducking when the shoe was thrown at him.