By zelenkal
This week was marked by the Super Bowl event. Most of us exchange students had difficulties grasping the importance and background. Not only did we have no idea who was playing, some of us (including me) even had to be assured that this has to do with American Football. The whole Super Bowl is an immensely popular show/sporting event. People gather and watch the biggest game of the season. I have a couple of observations from a non-US point of view.
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Commercials – I have never seen such a huge concentration of commercials in my life. I guess most of them featured cars, which is another topic connected to contemporary image of masculinity – let's play or watch the roughest sport ever and drive big cars! All of America is watching this event, and advertising during the game is at its most expensive point in the whole year, so companies seem to be doing their best in order to catch everybody's attention. And they are successful so as it is a habit of Americans to discuss the commercials afterwards.
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Half-time show – Beyonce is a huge icon here. Me and one of my Czech colleagues here were not familiar with this particular personality cult before I came to United States, however, one just cannot overlook it here. People mention her during classes, she sings the national anthem during Obama's Inauguration (and for instance The Huffington Post claims that her singing “was a capstone to the official proceedings of the inauguration”) and at last she performs during Super Bowl Half-time. Of course, these were two fundamentally different events and the performances reflect on that. I was truly surprised with the sexualized manner, and afterwards with the keen reactions of most of the people I talked to about it. In sum, it doesn't matter what Beyonce does, the majority will love it for sure.
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Baltimore Ravens wins the highest football title in the country – Seems like DC is a good place to be in again, this time in thanks to being so close to the home of Ravens, therefore gaining praise from all over US.
- Popularity - GW organized a friendly gathering, which I appreciated because I had no idea about where else to be. Only a few people I know of did not go and watch the Super Bowl with others; nobody was indifferent to this event. I guess that is the reason why there were more performers than the actual audience at the GW Orchestra performance on Sunday; everybody was too busy preparing for Super Bowl.
It was a big event. And a noisy one, too. Being here for a month now, I have finally found the calmest place, which I might be visiting regularly after similar events. A small coffee shop at Alexandria is all an exchange student needs now. Or, even better, having a live performer there to calm you down more efficiently than silence. Despite the distance, St. Elmo's I cannot wait to be back! Even though I would hope that the next time I am going there, the weather will be more predictable than it turned out to have been last week (even the forecasts seem to have been joking)! As much as I enjoy miscellany, this week blew my mind both figuratively and literally!