The school trip was fantastic. The best time I’ve had during my school holidays in a long time. It was great to be able to spend so much time with some of my friends, under all sorts of circumstances, and prove that we could cope with being with each other.
I got a lot more fond of the Northern Territory than I expected. Also, I feel like I know a bit more about Aboriginal culture, and I’m interested in learning a lot more. Since we’ve gotten back there’s been a lot in the media about the government’s plans to stop child sex abuse in the NT, so we’ve been discussing that in legal studies. It feels really weird to talk about it because I feel like my classmates have this opinion of the NT, that it’s full of drunks or “bogans” or something, and screwed up compared to here. Now, I’m not saying that I know the place really well. Obviously I don’t since we were just passing through towns. But at least I’ve been there, and am not just basing my opinions on some recent news reports. Of course child sex abuse is wrong and should be stopped but I think some of my classmates currently have nothing in their heads regarding the NT apart from what they’ve heard in the news recently.
I liked the locals I met. But the point is, I feel uncomfortable when everyone talks about the news we’ve heard. Maybe none of this made sense! Oh well. It’s good to get some thoguths out.
EDIT: Argh I wrote an entire edit and then lost it. Damn! Basically I was saying that I’m back at school and doing my best not to get hideously behind. I’m going to make a colour coded study schedule, taking into account the rehearsals I have to go to for the musical, time to go to the gym, and time to practise singing. (I dropped flute lessons. Way too much to worry about. I’ve also dropped IB French.)
Mmm. Deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go past.
It’s always interesting when you know more about a subject than the general public, and they keep getting wrong ideas. But it works two ways as well. You (and I) might know more about the N.T. than some others, but I’m sure they will know more about other places, like Germany, for example.
Comment by Jack Scott — 27 June, 2007 @ 11:56 am
Lol! What a great quote there.
Yeah, I’m sure it is a two way thing. Funnily, it’s the people who get to go to Europe for school trips that have such negative opinions about there own country right here. It’s not “good enough” for some people. And yet the Europeans love it here!
Comment by Jen — 27 June, 2007 @ 11:45 pm