Why I know so many world capitals
Aug. 19th, 2004 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greybetaIn continuing explaining a bit about myself, I'll choose the subject of world capitals and why I know so many. When I was in the fourth grade, I competed in an elementary geography bee. Fourth through sixth grade was allowed to compete, but I was the only fourth grader to make it through the preliminaries. Somehow, I ended up winning by answering Czechoslavkia in the championship round. After that, I became interested in geography and learned many capitals in the process.
When I studied these types of things, I learned more and more about the world around me. I learned the history behind Libya's capital Tripoli, which in Greek means "three cities". Hungary's capital, Budapest was the result of combining two cities (conveniently, they were Buda and Pest). All of this came back to help me make a strong start in my Quiz Bowl career in high school. Now, I use it mainly to converse with international students.
There was an old joke on my quiz bowl team that given any country, I could name its capital. And, at one point, I may have been able to give you anything from those really small Pacific Island countries to any of the Caribbean principalities, or one of the African states to one of the former Russian republics. Alas, this type of first tier knowledge fades away with disuse.
However, I suppose I'm a better world citizen for it.
When I studied these types of things, I learned more and more about the world around me. I learned the history behind Libya's capital Tripoli, which in Greek means "three cities". Hungary's capital, Budapest was the result of combining two cities (conveniently, they were Buda and Pest). All of this came back to help me make a strong start in my Quiz Bowl career in high school. Now, I use it mainly to converse with international students.
There was an old joke on my quiz bowl team that given any country, I could name its capital. And, at one point, I may have been able to give you anything from those really small Pacific Island countries to any of the Caribbean principalities, or one of the African states to one of the former Russian republics. Alas, this type of first tier knowledge fades away with disuse.
However, I suppose I'm a better world citizen for it.
