McDonaldization
Okay, in my last blog I wrote that I was going to blog more..... Hmm, guess I should get going with it then. This blog is in English. And perhaps a little confused.
Things are really beginning to take shape (can you say that in English?), and it is getting more and more real that we are making a campaign, and that a lot of us are going to South Africa soon. Very soon. 12 days.
Today we've been in MS' buildings, at the Global Platform, and we've learned and discussed at lot about communication, culture and intercultural communication, and we've been in our Field-trip-working-groups, beginning to plan more about how what and when we are going to do when in South Africa. I'm in the video/photo-group.
So many thoughts at once are appearing, as always when doing something that is interesting and exciting. And one of the good things of working in a group, to me at least, is that the structure appear more visible and at once. But at the same time it is a little confusing that so many things are happening at once. It seems that everybody in our class are very engaged and motivated. It is really cool. Almost a bit dizzying at times, but very cool indeed. I'm trying to catch up. :)
Earlier today we also made a short (and quickly prepared) presentation about what we're doing here in this course (Global Change) at the MS "wednesday meeting". That was a very nice experience also to see a little bit more of some of the other MS people around and what they're doing.
Yesterday I was a part of making a workshop at Det Frie Gymnasium together with the events-group. That is, I wasn't actually a part of making the workshop, in fact I just showed up there to help facilitate one of the groups of the high school students, that the events-group had planned to teach (tell? explain?) about one of our campaign planning tools; the Campaign Star. That was also a very nice experience to be a part of. :)
Well, I still have soooo much to learn. But I ('m beginning to be) thinking that this is mot a thing that is going to change. The more you know, the more you know what you don't know, right?
I have an example of what I absolutely didn't know anything about. The amount of McDonalds' in South Africa! Haha. I had a conversation a few days ago that ended up with me being convinced that I knew that there for sure were no McDonalds' in Soth Africa at all. Well, I even kind of thought that I had fact-checked it (longer story). So, sitting at the lunch-table in MS this monday I felt an urge to share this new knowledge with some of my co-students. Really!? That can't be right! No McDonalds' in South Africa!? Nope. I was sure. BUT later I could not stop wondering whether this was actually really really true. Even though I thought I knew it. Not that important one could say, but anyway, I looked it up (once again) on the internet. And there it was, right in my face, over 135 McDonalds' in South Africa. Hmm. What a source of knowledge, the internet, wow, McDonalds, no McDonalds. I haven't seen any of them really, I still haven't been to South Africa of course, but NOW I know for sure, that there are over 135 McDonalds' in South Africa. Their web-page tells me. And I trust it, it's got the well-known McD-logo and everything, it is true. Of course there is McDonalds in South Africa.
Well, what is the conclusion on all this? Something about globalization, knowledge, stupid mistakes, or just something generally nice about the social vibes in this current MS course? McDonaldization (don't know if that's really a word, no) of the world? I don't know! I know I will soon be hungry, and that I'm so lucky as to have some classmates cooking dinner right now.
What a lot of words.