American Idol

Alright folks I'm back! Sorry for the long hiatus...a combination of finals and traveling but now I am back!

Today's topic: An American in an English Class, namely an American focused class.
This semester is different for me than my last one here because I am taking all American studies/history courses. I am taking Gender and Sexuality in the New Republic, Gender and Democracy in the US and The Civil War in American Culture. The last two courses I am the ONLY American in it, so it creates both an awkward and awesome situation. Awkward because I am the only American so everyone immediately looks to you for answers and reactions to things. It is common in my classes to be asked by both my professor and students, "How is ______ viewed in America?", "When did _____ happen?", "Have you been to _____ in America?"
It is awesome though being the only American because I get quite a bit of attention from everybody. Many of the students have studied abroad in America for a year or semester so they are always eager to talk to me. It's really fun to be in these classes because as much as the British students might learn stuff from me, I am learning stuff about how they view American things.

On a side note, discussing American events and people is quite interesting and amusing. Even for being American studies majors, the British students and professors oftentimes don't know about typical famous people in our history, such as Betsy Ross or Molly Pitcher. I had to explain to my American gender history professor (who is a very good teacher nonetheless) about Molly Pitcher and how she manned the cannon to defend her husband. This same teacher thought the Statue of Liberty was built in 1812...the actual date is 1886. Nonetheless my professor is an enthusiastic teacher and loves hearing my input. In my Civil War culture class it is also interesting looking at the Civil War from a foreigner's eyes. America kind of looks ridiculous that we still hold on to the Civil War so much, especially with people still owning Confederate flags. People always love to ask me about that. It is unfortunate, but I have to tell them that I see them in Pennsylvania, a "northern" state today, oftentimes in my hometown. Not only are my courses useful to my learning, but also learning from other students has proven just as useful to my education.