Drake and his twin brother Dakota sauntered into the hall where Cultural Studies was scheduled for their first lecture, shooting the shit. The identical twins were inseparable, both in their second year at university in the same psychology degree. Drake was the more outgoing of the two and had managed to convince the more reserved Dakota that they should take this class. In addition to it being basically a guaranteed A, it also counted as a credit towards their major, which a lot of the students taking it as a filler course couldn’t say.
The twins moved to the back of the classroom, sitting in the second to last row. They opened their notepads, just in case they had to write anything down for lecture today. Drake elbowed Dakota in the rib, and commented “Hey, there’s our candy supply,” as he saw Professor Martinez enter the room.
Dakota laughed, rubbing where he was just ribbed. “Oh come on, we should try to take this sort of seriously. It’s for our major, so shouldn’t we at least give the first lecture a chance?”
He turned to Drake, who was just giving his brother a shit eating grin. That was the answer to that question. While not a student athlete, Drake was clearly in good shape and it showed on his face as his smile was the perfect expression for friendly teasing. Both twins were tall and blonde, with typical jock cuts. Drake was in better shape, but Dakota was still reasonably well built. He just didn’t exercise as much, taking school a bit more seriously.
Their friendly banter ended quickly as Professor Martinez introduced himself and started talking about the syllabus. "Good morning, everyone. I am Dr. Martinez, and welcome to Intro to Cultural Studies." he said, introducing himself.
"Now I know a few of you have heard that this class is an easy A, but you will all be pleased to hear that is not the case." After this line Dakota glared over at Drake, who just grinned again and gave him a subtle thumbs up. Professor Martinez continued to speak, "In this class you will learn how culture influences an individual's experiences and everyday life. However, before you learn about a culture that is not your own, you should experience it for yourself first hand."
He started passing through the aisles, talking to students briefly to get their names as he handed out two pieces of paper. “You are all receiving your syllabus and first project of the semester. Each of you have been assigned to a cultural organization whose culture is not your own. To complete this project, you must join the organization and complete all of the tasks I have listed on your project form. This will include attending their meetings and participating in their events. I hope you will find this project transformative, and open your mind to accept the rest of the semester's material. You may even make friends and want to become a permanent member. However, I should warn you that this project is worth a large portion of your final grade, so do take it seriously."
He reached the near back of the room and got to Drake and Dakota. “Ah, twins,” he mentioned to the two students unamused by the hefty term long assignment. “I believe I saw your files. Which one of you is Drake?” he asked, and Drake replied to identify himself. He was promptly handed two papers. Dakota was handed two as well, “You must be Dakota, then.”. The other brother nodded and thanked the professor, who moved on to hand out the last few sheets.
The two brothers looked over their syllabi and Drake groaned. “This term project is worth 70% of the class, what the fuck?” Dakota looked over at him and shrugged. “You said this would be an easy A. Foot, meet mouth?”
Drake glared at his brother. “Maybe, but it’s a psychology credit. So, we should stick it out. At least it’s not a million boring lectures.” A little bit of complaining and figuring out what to do between the brothers went on and before they knew it, Professor Martinez was at the front of the room again.
"You may now look at your project form to see what cultural organization you will be joining and the full list of tasks you must complete." he said, commanding attention of the room. The two brothers flipped their forms over.
“The Asian Student Alliance?” asked Drake, fairly loudly. “I’m gonna stick out like a sore thumb!”
Dakota hushed him, “He said it’s for class, it’s not like you actually have to take it super seriously.”
Drake looked at the paper again, it was pretty rigid in its instructions to “be a fully functional member of the student society and participate in all of its term events unless class conflicts arise”. The instructions also included that the first meeting was this afternoon, only a couple of hours before class.
“This is gonna fucking suck, man. Maybe I’ll have to switch my courses to try and get as many conflicts as I can with the course.” He said in a hush to Dakota, who just gave Drake a stink eye. “Anyway, what did you get?”
“I’m with the Muslim Student Association, by the looks of it. Unlike you, I’ll try to keep a positive outlook. Hopefully it’s fun! The first meeting is tonight.”
Drake groaned, he didn’t get his brother’s positive outlook on this bullshit situation. He decided to leave it alone, he could find a solution if need be. For today, he’d to the meeting if he was forced to, and then he’d figure it out. Professor Martinez briefly spoke about the syllabus and the exam, and dismissed the class early.
Drake and Dakota exited the room with the herd of students shuffling off to their next class. Dakota seemed cheery enough, unlike Drake. “So, what do you want to do before abnormal psychology?” he asked. They had a few hours of a break for the time being.
Drake just groaned, “My Cultural Studies meeting is coming up in like an hour. I don’t have time to do much. You might have to entertain yourself. I know it’ll be hard without me, but I believe in you!”
Dakota laughed, “Fuck off, jackass.” He said. “I’ll just head to the library or something then. Have fun at the meeting.”
“I won’t!” shouted Drake to his brother as he walked away.