Reflective Post: Week 1

Well the longest week of my life (to date) is finally over. In addition to starting college and all that jazz, I did things I never thought I would do. I got a Twitter (that was an assignment), started a blog and enjoyed writing it far more than I could've dreamed, and stayed up long into the night reading a book about soccer. I realized how much I am going to need to put into this World Politics, but more importantly, I began to see how much I can get out.

Even reading through the syllabus on Tuesday was unlike the countless other syllabus read through I've been subject to. Yes this was partially due to PTS's use of an iPad instead of a laptop or (dare I even suggest) paper print outs *gasp*. But more than this it was one line that the Professor said, "I don't expect or want you to come out of this class with a perfect understanding of world politics. This class is about changing the way you view world politics and how you construct and argue your views on the topic."*

And then the long hours with How Soccer Explains The World began. Although I rued the author at points for subjecting me to all this talk about a sport I never had the slightest inclination to participate in (I may or may not have fallen to my knees in a thunderstorm, bellowing "CURSE YOU FOER!" at one point), I f learning much from the book. I knew the book had been a success when I unwittingly found myself recounting what I had learned about soccers effect on the eastern bloc countries in the wake of the Soviet Union.

Of course we spent the vast majority of in-class discussion talking about America and Iran (although I can neither say I was surprised nor displeased about this turn of events), leaving the bloc back in the barely-touched-upon chapters 1-7. I found myself having more to say about the book and its issues than I would've expected (I thought this would be a "zero day" and it turned out to be more of a one).

*I apologize for the undoubtably horrendous misquote. I'm sure Professor Jackson said it much more eloquently but I hope I captured the gist