Friday, April 23, 2010

The End?

So I got back to Aberdeen on Monday after being gone for almost 3 straight weeks (I came back for about 16 hours between weeks 2 and 3). I have had really limited internet access lately, and just being back in Aberdeen and getting into classes again has kept me busy. I've completely slacked on the blog and everything, but I promise I'm making up for it.
So even though the CLAM course is ending tomorrow basically, I still have over a month and a half in Aberdeen. I have classes until the 14th of May, and then I have a "revision week" and then exams start. I only have 2, and they are a week apart, and then I leave on June 12th. So these videos, especially the overall experience/personal one, feel premature since I'm only barely halfway done. It's crazy to hear all of my friends from Clemson talk about how their basically done. It's kind of saddening, especially for my friends that are graduating in a matter of weeks!
This isn't exactly an ad, or a "media artifact" but I really like the signs. They are for a protest for the National Union of Teachers. I saw them laying in the street in London, and people had just left them there. I'm not sure if there already was a protest, or if it hadn't started yet, but I liked the slogans on the signs, especially "EDUCATION CUTS NEVER HEAL." I love a good pun (who doesn't?), and it makes it even better when it applies to a real social problem. The signs are simple and effective.
The next two things are photos of a poster in my housing area and a flier handed out this past week by the University of Aberdeen about elections. U of A had their student council elections this week and it was pretty crazy here. Guys dressed up like Braveheart, like bears, had catchy slogans like "Vote Joe, he's not slow" (seriously), and rode around on old time-y bicycles (you know, the kind with one giant wheel and one tiny wheel) shouting about who to vote for. This poster is for one candidate (who didn't win), but I think it shows how much more crazy people can be over here. I know that, at least at Clemson, if someone had a poster like this up, it would probably be taken down. I think that our culture is much more sensitive and censored than the Scottish culture.
The next photo is a flier handed out to students to remind them to vote. It seems normal until you get to the third example that they give of where to vote:
In bed? This isn't shocking at all to students here. They are generally less conservative and more open about sexual issues. When I saw this, I thought "What on earth would happen if Clemson passed this flier out for our elections?" People would freak out, that's what would happen! American culture is so big on being politically correct that this would be a big no-no.

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