4th week

Tuesday February 4th: To start off the class we played the controversial super bowl coca cola commercial which played America the beautiful in many different languages. I thought it was very interesting when the commercial first came on because in class we would also talk about how America is a melting pot full of different cultures and people. I don't see any problem with this commercial, it just really shows what America really is and it really shows that no matter what race or culture we are all Americans.  After that we talked about different jobs and the different demographics within the jobs. We talked about how some companies are starting to make employees know a secondary language. I think this is a great idea, saying that a lot of americans can speak Spanish now. I think that if a company were to make an employee learn a secondary language that they should have to pay for the class in order to get the most potential out of their employees and their companies. I believe that languages die because times have changed. Many people that used to speak latin have no use for it anymore because nobody else in the world would be able to communicate and be successful in the world.

Thursday the 6th: It was interesting starting out with Ellen and Molly's presentation on Canada. I never really thought that being from Canada would be that much different because of similarities to north USA. It's funny that I'm from Utah and complain about how much everything is here and that it's a lot more expensive in Canada even though the exchange rate is so similar. I think it's interesting how border countries like Canada and Mexico can be so different in their own way. I couldn't even imagine trying to go from the metric system to the US's messed up weird system of different measurements. I also think that would be difficult for a Canadian student as well because they have to go from learning everything with the metric system to having to try and learn everything with miles and inches and such. The chocolate covered pretzels that were brought in were wonderful. I've never even thought of this kind of snack, but it was a good first time to have it because they were amazing! Next we watched a little flick on religion. I think it's weird that the world has so many different religions. I'm not a religious guy myself so I really can't speak for it. I just think it's interesting how so many people can believe in so many different things On another note, today starts the beginning of the Sochi Olympics! Probably the biggest event for intercultural communication in the world. I can't wait to be able to watch all the countries compete and especially to watch the hockey games with the newfound respect for hockey players since I have come into North Dakota. I believe that the Olympics is something that everyone needs to experience in person. In 2002, we were lucky enough to have the Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was so fun being able to go see events and seeing how downtown was so nicely decorated. It's fun to see all the different types of cultures at the Olympics having fun and dedicating a trip just to cheer on their country.