Languages are a passion of mine, including the study of different cultures (and their literature). Throughout many years as a student, I've been acutely aware of how little emphasis and knowledge is spent on teaching Americans about other countries. For example, I've never been taught about Africa besides information about slavery in history books and some information about Egyptian mythology. And I only learned a little bit about the countries of South America in my Spanish classes.
I'd love to travel to Australia and maybe even New Zealand someday to study literature there. In both secondary education and in college, I've never been taught about literature from over there. Why? They still speak English! In the curriculum for English Majors in the US, the only foreign authors we learn about are British, Irish, or sometimes a rare Canadian author. I find that highly disappointing.
Though I'm not going to grad school (at least not anytime soon, if at all), if all goes well I'll still be able to visit Australia for a while. Australia, the land down under, full of kangaroos (yay!), the Great Barrier Reef (did I mention I love snorkeling/scuba diving?) and awesome accents. ;)
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