Unit 1: Introduction

 Welcome to my Starlog!

I currently started Smithsonian's course "Star Trek: Inspiring Culture an Technology" because I wanted to challenge myself, take my first edx course and complete it. And of course, I am a huge Trekkie.

But before the age of 18, I haven't watched a single episode Star Trek. Then, a friend introduced me to new things and Star Trek was one of them, thankfully. At that time, I often worked night shifts on the weekend to earn some money while I still was in school for my A-levels. On Sundays, I slept in and watched Star Trek. On TV there were always two episodes of the series Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. I enjoyed it a lot and got to know the series more and more. But since I was watching the episodes as they just aired, it was a mess.

Years later I made the decision with a friend to watch everything Star Trek related, series and movies completely and in chronological order, in English. So the foreign language part was a challenge and I was frustrated at times because I had trouble understanding everything at first. But it was helpful to know part of the storyline. It was also at this time that I first came into contact with the original series. It took us some time, but we finally looked through the entire Star Trek universe. It was so much fun! A really nice memory! And Star Trek helped me to understand understand English movies and series in original version. It took away my fear of contact and opened a new world for me, a world of unsynchronized films. So, I can really say, Star Trek had a huge impact on my life.

Later, I struggled with French and had the feeling like hitting a glass ceiling because I couldn't noticeable improve my language skills. I remembered watching Star Trek in English and thought it would be fun to rewatch the series again but in French. So I did it. Maybe it sounds weird to others and it's probably not a normal thing to watch synchronized movies and series in another language than the native language. But one says, you can learn languages best with emotions. And Star Trek touches me in so many ways. Rewatching series and seeing favourite characters again is like visiting old friends. So I watched Star Trek again in French. That means I've watched Star Trek in three different languages so far.

These days I watch Star Trek as a feel-good series, mostly in English. But I will also watch Star Trek in the future for language learning. Let's see which will be the next language. Let's see where Star Trek will take me. I will always be there with all my heart.

#StarTrekCourse

@SmithsonianX