Everything else will be over-rated
I have a dirty little secret: I take horrible pictures. Lots of them. Damn digital camera entices me to take pictures but the problem is that I have little to no artistic talent in this area. I just uploaded the several hundred pictures I have taken since I got to Scotland, and let me tell you, major deletions were necessary. I also have this weird obsession with photographing doors/archways and clocktowers. I'm not quite sure why. This is bad, because Scotland seems to be filled with lovely doors/archways/clocktowers.
Also, last night I went to the History Society pub quiz, and lacking a Regan on the team to help us ace the medieval section--in fact, lacking any other history majors, period--we failed miserably. One girl on the team was a classic dumb blond, and I'm still trying to figure out what she was doing there. In the current events section, there was a question about the latest school shooting in America, the one that took place in the Amish community. As background to the ensuing story, let me stay that I had of course introduced myself earlier to the group (I had randomly joined a team, since I don't really know that many people in the society), and the usual where are you from? question had brought up the fact that I was from Oregon. If I get a blank look, I explain where the state is, and I don't really blame anyone who doesn't know about Oregon (except if they're Americans. Then that is just sad). But this time, there weren't any blank looks. So I was surprised when the following situation occurred.
Question: In which state did the most recent American school shooting occur?
Me: Pennsylvania.
Others: Yeah, Pennsylvania.
Dumb blond: Wasn't it in Oregon?
Me: Umm...no. It was in an Amish community.
Dumb blond: But aren't there a lot of Amish people in Oregon?
Me (rather snippily, I admit): Wrong coast.
Seriously, why don't you just listen to the damn token American on the team when the question is about AMERICA and especially when the OREGONIAN doesn't think it took place in Oregon. I'm pretty sure the only reason that she even thought it was Oregon was because the state had been mentioned earlier in the evening and it was the only state she could remember. It should be noted that according to Google there is at least one Amish community in Oregon, but it isn't a very large or well-known one, and the largest Amish communities are in Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania (as in: not near Oregon).
Sadly, there was only one US history question all night, which was bad because my Britian/European history knowledge is sorely lacking. And 80% of the questions were on British history, which makes sense given who most of the members of the society are, but is fairly sad for an American student whose school system thinks that American history is really the most important because we only had to study it THREE DIFFERENT DAMN YEARS. But did those three years help me in my pub quiz? NO. And shouldn't schools be teaching information that could be useful for, I don't know...say, winning chocolate and looking smart?
Also, last night I went to the History Society pub quiz, and lacking a Regan on the team to help us ace the medieval section--in fact, lacking any other history majors, period--we failed miserably. One girl on the team was a classic dumb blond, and I'm still trying to figure out what she was doing there. In the current events section, there was a question about the latest school shooting in America, the one that took place in the Amish community. As background to the ensuing story, let me stay that I had of course introduced myself earlier to the group (I had randomly joined a team, since I don't really know that many people in the society), and the usual where are you from? question had brought up the fact that I was from Oregon. If I get a blank look, I explain where the state is, and I don't really blame anyone who doesn't know about Oregon (except if they're Americans. Then that is just sad). But this time, there weren't any blank looks. So I was surprised when the following situation occurred.
Question: In which state did the most recent American school shooting occur?
Me: Pennsylvania.
Others: Yeah, Pennsylvania.
Dumb blond: Wasn't it in Oregon?
Me: Umm...no. It was in an Amish community.
Dumb blond: But aren't there a lot of Amish people in Oregon?
Me (rather snippily, I admit): Wrong coast.
Seriously, why don't you just listen to the damn token American on the team when the question is about AMERICA and especially when the OREGONIAN doesn't think it took place in Oregon. I'm pretty sure the only reason that she even thought it was Oregon was because the state had been mentioned earlier in the evening and it was the only state she could remember. It should be noted that according to Google there is at least one Amish community in Oregon, but it isn't a very large or well-known one, and the largest Amish communities are in Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania (as in: not near Oregon).
Sadly, there was only one US history question all night, which was bad because my Britian/European history knowledge is sorely lacking. And 80% of the questions were on British history, which makes sense given who most of the members of the society are, but is fairly sad for an American student whose school system thinks that American history is really the most important because we only had to study it THREE DIFFERENT DAMN YEARS. But did those three years help me in my pub quiz? NO. And shouldn't schools be teaching information that could be useful for, I don't know...say, winning chocolate and looking smart?