Sociology 261: A Comparative Study of Sport in the United Kingdom
This trip was an amazing experience!!! There were very long days, 106.58 miles of walking, and lots of rain and cold weather. Dr. Milne made sure to pack a ton of things into this trip because for a lot of us on the trip it was our first time out of the country. Not only did we visit major sport sites, but we did the normal tourist activities like visiting the Edinburgh Castle, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and many other places.
I learned so much about different aspects of sports that I have never grown up around or been given the opportunity to experience. We went to the home of English rugby at Twickenham stadium and learned about how serious this sport is. There is a lot of discipline and its main ideals are respect and sportsmanship. We also visited the home of Scottish rugby at Murrayfield. Also, we were given the opportunity to attend a rugby game. I had never experienced a game like the one I had been to in London. The game was so quiet and respectful, when a player would kick the ball the entire stadium would go quiet out of respect. This would occur whether you were the home team or the visiting team.
Another sport we experienced was soccer or football. I have never been to a soccer game and have never played the sport. This game was like American football where fans were yelling constantly. Dr. Milne said we needed to be careful because fighting is a normal thing that occurs at soccer matches. I expected Rugby to be like this, but it was so different and being able to go to both games allowed our group to experience both sides of the spectrum in fan support.
Next, we played some cricket. This game made no sense to me at all. Coming from a baseball/softball family, this sport made no sense. Everything seemed so opposite from what I had learned and played all my life. We started to play the game and I was up to bat, I ran towards an imaginary first base as opposed to running towards the pitcher. One rule in cricket that was very confusing for me was you don’t have to run even if you hit the ball. It is an advance at your own risk type of thing. I now understand cricket a little bit better, but I will stick with softball.
Our last sport that we learned about was curling. Curling was a lot more difficult than I expected because there is a lot more skill involved. You must have good balance and be able to curve the ball properly and aim it. It reminded me of bowling in a way. I really enjoyed playing this sport and would love to be given the opportunity again.
I loved this trip even more because it was more of an elective. I was able to pick a study abroad trip that didn’t really feel like work. However, I learned so much and have taken so much away from it.
This trip has inspired me to go other places like Italy, Greece, Costa Rica, etc.
These are some of the photos from my trip!!!
