The 5 things I’m glad I did (or wish I had) as my time abroad comes to an end

I began the blogging of my experience studying abroad with the 5 things I’m glad I did (or wish I had) when it came time to leave for my adventure.  Well, my adventure is winding down, the corn is getting higher in my Indiana home, and the fall semester at Purdue will be here sooner than I can hope for.  So its only fitting that I end my blogs from abroad with the 5 things I’m glad I did (or wish I had) when it came time to return home.

1.  Choosing the European Union program

As I’ve said in previous blogs, I’m incredibly thankful for this accident that landed me in the IES EU program.  At the time of choosing a study abroad destination, all I wanted was to study in Germany to practice the only language I’ve ever learned in school.  As Freiburg was one of the few full spring semester programs, I jumped in, not really knowing at the time that this program would eventually take me to 9 countries across Europe.  It was certainly a pleasant surprise, and anyone looking for recommendations, I have only the best things to say about this program.

2.  Enjoying the region outside my city of study

This being said, although I loved all of the traveling I got to do throughout Europe, I wish I had taken more advantage of what Freiburg and the region had to offer while I was studying this semester. Freiburg has an amazing location, near the borders of both France and Switzerland.  Its big enough to have plenty to do, yet small enough for easy transportation and a feeling of safety.  Thankfully, taking the summer internship at my programs center, I was able to (and paid!) to explore the various things to do and see in Freiburg and the tri-country area.

3.  Applying for the internship

Taking the summer internship here was as scary and as rewarding a decision as the decision to study abroad.  I was incredibly nervous that I would chose to do this internship and inevitably be overwhelmed my homesickness and desire to leave.  But I also knew that the internship would be a better section on my resume than anything else I would have been doing this summer.  I missed my Sonic nights and summer bonfires, but hey, Euro Summer 2011 can never be topped:). These worries, of what I’d miss, are what prevented me from taking the internships offered by my program in the very beginning.  You were required to sign up for them when you signed up for the program, and at the time I thought, “No way!  5 months abroad is already a long time, no way I’m adding any more!” Not to mention their descriptions were incredibly intimidating: working in the European Parliament, helpings Members of Parliament write speeches and prepare meetings and give presentations.  After all the things I learned this semester, I developed a deep love of European politics, and that internship would have been amazing.  But regardless, I signed up for something different at the last-minute, and I’m incredibly thankful that I did.

4.  Worked Hard

A lot of common misconceptions about study abroad are that it’s a “blow-off” semester.  I heard it before I left, and I’m sure most people going in think the same.  Basically, you assume that a semester abroad is going to be so much easier than the often painstaking semesters at Purdue. This misconception can sometimes carry on to future jobs, when potential employers discredit a student spending the semester studying abroad as simply the child of a rich family who wanted to party in Europe.  Neither conceptions could be farther than the truth.  I worked just as hard here as I do at Purdue.  While there are, of course, some of your fellow classmates who simply take courses abroad as either a pass or fail, Purdue holds its students to the same standards that it does at home.  So I worked hard, and I got great grades… while also enjoying once in a lifetime experiences.

5. Practiced German

Although I worked hard in the classrooms of the IES center, I didn’t work so hard in the classroom of the streets of Freiburg.  I came to Germany with the ultimate goal of being fluent in German by the end of the semester.  I’d had several years of German under my belt, but this goal was farther out of reach than I initially anticipated.  It’s easy to have the desire, but a lot more effort to put it into action.  The authentic German language, speaking with authentic German people, was incredibly intimidating, and I buckled under the pressure.  I stashed my German knowledge in my back pocket and insisted whenever possible that I knew little to no German to avoid having to step up and show my skills (or lack there of).  In result, my German obviously made little to no improvement, and I’m sure I’ll regret this for a long time to come.  So learn from my mistakes, I know it’s easier said than done, but don’t be shy! Practice the language while you have it so conveniently available!

Summer Job [redefined]

IES , my program provider and the company for which I’m now interning, sets us up with a scheme to get ourselves famous in the study abroad world.  They give us blank cards with “[redefined]” printed on them.  Our task is to demonstrate how our experiences with abroad redefine typical conceptions of our every day world. For example, one could be climbing the Eiffel Tower with a sign that says “Getting a workout [redefined]” or riding on a camel in Morocco with “Transportation [redefined]“.  I wish I could hold a sign that says “Summer job [redefined]” but I’m sure people would look at me crazily and my arms would get tired.   Aside from the dragging hours in front of the computer and menial errands that are a staple of any internship, mine with IES is an experience I could never get anywhere else.  A few weeks ago our office sent my fellow intern, Darryl, and I to Colmar, France, often voted in online polls as one of the most beautiful and dreamy locations in the world.  Last week we went to Basel, Switzerland and next week we’re heading to Strasbourg, France, home of the European Parliament.  All of these are considered working days and IES pays for all of our transportation and activities.  Sweet deal, huh?  These aren’t just for fun, we do have a job to do:  visit  key highlights of the city and make travel guides for future IES-European Union students to use  when they visit.  Essentially, we are paid tourist-guinea pigs. But I wouldn’t want to be any other kind of guinea pig.

I’m currently writing from the lobby of the Meininger Hostel in Salzburg, Austria.  This isn’t for work, I’m here on a self-motivated mission:  to live out my dream of seeing the sites where the Sound of Music, one of my favorite movies ever, was filmed.  Today, I fulfilled this dream on a four hour Sound of Music tour.  I experienced all the major sites where the film was set, and I could have cried I was so happy.  How weird does this make me?…  I reached three realizations today: A) I have an impecable sense of direction.  If nothing else, I have that going for me.  B) I talk to myself a lot when I’m alone. And I’m hilarious.  C)  Although there’s quite a bit fewer of them, Americans tourists are WAY more annoying than the Japanese tourists that often get so much criticism.  Spending 6 months in Europe has made me realize so much about my fellow Americans.  We definitely are the loudest people at the party (or the restaurant, or the street, or the tour bus…) and we so often think everyone around us wants to know our life stories.  I know perfectly well that most Germans/Austrians could not care less about what your mom does for a living or how funny you think you are.  Don’t you know Germans have no sense of humor?? (Hey, you didn’t hear it from me   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8560815/Germany-officially-the-worlds-least-funny-country.html).  Regardless, I’m just out here, livin’ another day in the life of Eurosummer 2011 .

Don’t forget to check my https://picasaweb.google.com/afton.mortensen for all my updated photos from my trips and the new IES EU summer students.

Living with lifestyle differences in Germany

The program is over, all my friends have gone back to America or on to more traveling, and I’m left here in Freiburg with a lot of self-reflection time.  Towards the end of the semester, I was getting really down about being abroad. I wasn’t homesick, I just wanted to go home, if that makes any sense at all. I was tired of German food, German culture, German people. But for some reason, watching all of my friends leave reinvigorated my love for being abroad.  I miss my friends I made this semester and all of the experiences I had with them, but it’s kind of nice feeling, like I have the city to myself.  I’m really glad I stayed and I’ve fallen in love with Freiburg all over again.  So in my self-reflection time, I decided to post a blog for all future Boilermakers interested in Germany, or Freiburg in particular, about the differences in lifestyle.  Little lessons I learned along the way…

1.  To this day I often forget this fact, but if you are going to the grocery store, you need your own bags.  They don’t give out plastic bags, you’re expected to have your own way of getting your stuff home, like reuse other bags or canvas bags.  Some stores have bags, but you have to pay extra for them.

2.  In connection to this, Germans go to the grocery store more often.  Whereas in America, I would run to Walmart every couple of weeks and stock up on food, Germans go every couple of days or even every day.  This means their packaging is a lot smaller, they buy a lot more fresh food, and they ultimately buy less, which is important because their fridges are smaller and you have to carry home what you buy. Also about freshness, convenience is not priority here like it is in America, so no Toaster Strudels, no pancake mix, and those bagged frozen meals that I came to love, not going to find them here.

3.  You can forget about IHOP or Denny’s obsessions, breakfast is usually a simple baked good and coffee.  That was a rough one to adjust to. Other important notes about fast food in Germany: Döner is the German fast food.  Its like a wrap with lamb meat and veggies. Its a huge deal here. Also, Subway is now Mr. Sub, still not sure why, and McChickens at McDonalds are 3.19€ and not $1–criminal.

4. They don’t have air conditioning in a lot of buildings, which I’m starting to understand the misery of now that its getting into the 80′s here.  But their windows are huge here for this reason, they rely on a fresh breeze.

5.  Don’t wear sweat pants unless you’re going to the gym; daily tennis shoes are more like nice Pumas than Nike running shoes; dogs are rarely on leashes in Freiburg; and don’t even think about coming to Germany if you haven’t seen The Simpsons or The Big Lebowski.

6.  One thing I don’t think I’ll ever get used to is the “toilet” thing.  In America, we would rarely/never ask “Where is the toilet?”.  It seems crude. Yet if you ask for the “bathroom” in most European cities, they’ll wonder why you want to take a shower.

7.  Everyone knows the basics of Germany history, theres no tip-toeing around the subject. But I’ve gradually developed the habit of saying “Nazi” or “Hitler” in a very hushed tone.  Its not that Germans are trying to forget it, they’ve spent decades feeling guilty about the events of the past.  This is also why you will never see a German waving or flying a German flag.  They still have feelings that flying the flag is too nationalistic and connected to the Nazi era.

8.  You know that perception of the US being the world power and “We are the world leaders” kind of thing? Thats kind of how Germany is in the European Union.  They are basically the leaders, they have the strongest economy, but yet they couldn’t really care less.  Germans have no feeling of identity with the EU and would say they were German far before they would ever say they are European. And being members of the EU, this means most Europeans are much more knowledgable about international news whereas most Americans know whats going on only in America.

9.  If you are coming to Germany, you’ll hear a lot that Germans are “social drinkers”.  When American students are drinking, it is often with the intention of getting drunk.  They rarely crack open a beer on a Tuesday after class just because.  Its usually weekend bingers, beer pong, and jungle juice.  This isn’t to say Germans don’t get drunk, they definitely do.  But it definitely isn’t the same as with Americans.  Its just sitting around, drinking beers with friends.  Also, you can drink on the streets in Germany, and the drinking age is much younger.  Its a little freaky the first time you see a a 16 year old on the street chugging down a bottle of Malibu (because German 16 year olds do act like American 21 year olds).

10. Speaking of this, if you come to Germany to study abroad, any Germans you hang out with and meet will almost certainly be much older. They start taking courses at the university much later in Germany, thus our equivalence in college level has a discrepancy in the age range.  Most of the Germans I know and hang out with are 25 and older.  And after a while, the 20-21 year old Germans seem veerrryyyy young and immature.

11.  ”Entschuldigung” or “Excuse me” is rarely used when passing by someone; soft drinks are much smaller, much more expensive, and free refills are unheard of; Sunday is a day to enjoy with friends and family doing something outside and basically the entire city of Freiburg shuts down; Germans are far less attached to their cell phones than Americans; if you jaywalk you’re consider a bad influence on children–its a definite no no; you won’t find ice in most drinks; and if you want tap water be prepared for some confusion.

12.  Trash sorting is the weirdest thing to become adjusted to. They have separate bags and garbage bins for plastics, papers, glass(green, brown, AND clear), and regular waste.  I still have to ask my roommate what goes where.

13.  The stereotype that Americans are loud is 100% true.  Even in our everyday conversations, we are much louder when we speak than the Germans.

14.  Living in an apartment in Germany, you typically have a cleaning plan that you share with your roommates and it rotates weekly.  And whereas in America, if you are always closing your door to your bedroom, you are going to be considered quiet or antisocial. But Germans always close their doors when in their rooms and think we are weird (and sometimes bothersome) if we leave our doors open.

Ein Sommer in Europa

I’ve loved my time abroad so much, I’m not letting it end.  My papers may be finished, my finals may be approaching, but my time abroad got an added two months.  I received an internship here for the summer, so Freiburg and I have a lot more memories to make!  I’ll be working behind the scenes of the IES center where my classes have been all semester. I’ll be helping with the summer program and preparing everything for the Fall semester students.  Even though I’m not leaving, I still have to deal with losing everyone in my program that has become my family this semester.  Many of them are going home to school or work, or continuing on a trip across Europe. One more week and they’re losing Freiburg, but I’m losing them!  Thankfully there are three other students hanging around in Freiburg for the summer for various internships, I’ve made some friends in other international programs, and met some Germans of course. And I couldn’t survive without one of my newest flatmates; maybe you know her–Emeline from France, one of last semesters bloggers! Its amazing having another Purdue student living with me, and having someone else on the other side of the ocean that knows the glory of a Den Pop.

Since I’m not leaving, it’s hard  to me to understand how fast this semester has gone, because I don’t have to think about it in terms of me returning to the US soon.  I can’t even imagine what it would be like to go back now–sometimes I feel like I’m going to be in Germany forever. There’s so much I miss, and homesickness is definitely becoming a bigger part of my attitude as the days pass.  I miss Chik-fil-a, and the convenience of Walmart, and just the general look and feel of an American city.  But when I chill out and look at the bigger picture: I’m spending a summer in Europe. Not only is this going to be an awesome addition to my resume, but how many people get to do this in their lifetime?? I’ll keep you updated as my European Summer 2011 unfolds.  Maybe now I’ll be forced to actually improve my German…

Roman Holiday and Spanish Love Affair

In the past week I’ve been in 3 countries, 5 cities, and seen things that if you would’ve told me a year ago I would see, I would have called you a nut job.  For our last and final trip with the EU program, we were split up into three groups and we all went on separate trips to various EU countries.  My group traveled to Rome, Italy and Madrid and Barcelona, Spain.

The night before we left for Rome I watched The Lizzie McGuire Movie to familiarize myself with the sites.  Sadly, I must report there was no love affair with an Italian popstar, but the city was even more gorgeous than the movie let on.  I got to see the Coliseum during the day and at night and throw my coin in the Trevi fountain (which means I’ll come back to Rome.  If I do, a second coin means I’ll marry an Italian. Here’s to hopin’!).  I spent a day laying out on the Spanish steps with a friend–one of the best and most relaxing days of the trip, despite the severe sunburn I suffered later.  I ate 6 cups of gelato and tried every pasta dish and pizza place in the vicinity of the hotel.  I undoubtedly gained 10 pounds in 4 days.  I visited Vatican City (did you know its considered its own country?), saw the Sistine Chapel (where I had “SILENCIO, NO PHOTO!” screamed in my ear about 33 times) and almost got taken out by the crazy Italian drivers. Seriously, those people completely disregard the bright yellow stripes on the road called lanes.

Madrid was next, and there began my love affair.  With a country, not a boy. Sadly. Anyways.. we didn’t have a lot of time to see the city between our academic meetings (almost forgot about those), but even the little that I saw was amazing.  After the hustle and bustle of Rome, Madrid was oddly calming and peaceful.  It was also the city where I was introduced to Starbucks Frappuccino’s , and I’m never turning back from that one.  While in Madrid, we did a day trip to the city of Toledo, one of the most gorgeous places I’ve seen.  Only my pictures could do it justice, so don’t forget to check out my album.

Our last city on our Euro Tour was Barcelona, Spain.  Dad, cover your eyes for the next part:  I probably bought more clothes there than I started the trip with.  But hey, with subpar shopping in Germany, I needed to do my one-time splurge for the upcoming Spring months.  At least that how I justified it to myself… We got to go to the IES Barcelona center and see all of those kids in action.  As much as I loved Barcelona, I am so glad I picked my program in Freiburg–they have over 300 kids in their program!!  Thursday night our whole group went to see the DJ Laidback Luke perform at a club on the beach, where I met people from places as different as Chicago, Spain, and Luxembourg. Gotta love the EU.  Our last day we all went and laid on the beach for hours soaking up the last bits of ocean breeze before heading back.  Let me add, this was a topless beach.  An experience I never again want to experience, thank you.

Last night, all our trips reunited at our dorm for dinner to talk about our adventures.  After hearing everyone else’s experiences, we were all so thankful for our trip.  Our leaders were amazing, the weather was perfect, our group got along so well, and we saw some of the most beautiful sites in the world.  I will never forget this week, I am so grateful for this experience–thanks Purdue & parents!!  I ended the week with a camp-out in the courtyard between our dorms with two of my friends.  The Germans probably thought we were totally nuts.  And they’d be completely right.

https://picasaweb.google.com/afton.mortensen/

Putting my metabolism to the test

I’m not going to lie: I think very highly of myself right now.  I just got back from a week long tour of the European institutions in Frankfurt, Brussels and Paris; I’m going to Strasbourg tomorrow to visit the European Parliament with IES; Friday I’m off to Copenhagen, Denmark (or “The Land of My People” as I like to call it); then Cologne on Monday for the Fastnacht celebration.  Sleep when you die, they always say.

My trip last week across Germany, Belgium and France was much better than the quarantine I faced in Berlin/Prague.  In the mornings I got my dose of academia, with meetings at the European Central Bank, European Commission, European Council, and World Bank. In the afternoons, it was tourist time.  In Frankfurt, I basked in the beauty of professional men in business suits everywhere.  Sadly, we were only there for part of the first day, so it was a short-lived love affair.  Next was Brussels, the capital of the EU.  I haven no idea what drug withdrawals would feel like, but I have a feeling its something like eating Belgian waffles everyday then suddenly not having them anymore.  In respect of Belgian tradition, I had to try the beer before I left, but as I am not a beer lover–or even liker–, I tried Delerium’s Kirsche Bier (cheery beer) and may have found the only beer in the world I can actually swallow.  After three days in Brussels it was on to Paris.  My expectations for Paris were set extremely low, as I have heard nothing but bad things about it.  Yet every pre-judgement I had about this gorgeous city was completely wrong.  Sure there are a lot of conners and pickpocketers, but otherwise the people are incredibly friendly and nice.  When I was lost for 1.5 hours attempting to find my way back to the hotel after the metro had already stopped running, 4 different people asked me if I needed help (clearly I did with my nose buried in a map and seriously confused expression on my face–couldn’t be more American).  I know what you’re thinking–blonde American girl in Paris, of course they offered to help, I was an easy target.  But everyone was super helpful.  The story does get a little scarier beyond that, but I’ll leave that part out, for the sake of preventing my mother from a heart attack.  Just make sure you remember the metro stops running at 2 AM if you every go to Paris…  Our last day in Paris, some friends and I climbed the stairs up the Eiffel Tower, then grabbed some crepes for the 8 hour bus trip back home.  You know you’re American when you’re running down the streets of Paris, double-fisting crepes in both hands, to jump onto a giant white bus.  Don’t worry, even I’m ashamed of myself sometimes.

The day after we got back was Rosenmontag, a national holiday in Germany.  They celebrate with Fastnacht, which honestly I don’t entirely understand other than there was a parade, lots of good food stands, and people in costumes all over the city.  Oh, and more crepes

Eine neue Perspektive

In the initial stages of my study abroad plans, all I cared about was going to Germany, and getting credits for Management.  I signed up for the IES European Union program assuming it was like any other study abroad program, having no idea what exactly it entailed.  Somehow I cluelessly walked in to, in my opinion, the best study abroad program I could have done.  Back in the US, learning about history and government was never enjoyable.  I love politics and my reverence for poli sci students borders on hero-worship, but learning about the US political system was more like shoving bamboo sticks under my fingernails.  Maybe it’s because I grew up there, maybe it’s because high school classes felt like a joke.  But being in the European Union, getting to go to the cities where all the major political action goes down.. I feel like for once in my life I’m enjoying what I’m learning.  So writing 10 page papers on banking risks and the devolution in the UK are certainly some of the low points of my college career, but the topics are (wonderfully) outside of my tight knit box of Management classes at home.

I always took for granted how secure I felt living in the US; I think 99% of Americans do. Freiburg is definitely no war zone, but there are problems on this side of the Atlantic that I would never even have to consider while living in the states.  There are scandalous political leaders beyond anything Bill Clinton could’ve pulled, fears of having your entire nations gas supply cut off, major civilians protests leading into civil war …The biggest news concerns at home were gas prices, the latest speech from the Tea Party, or who got arrested on Jersey Shore this week. I came into Germany thinking I would prove every stereotype about America wrong: Europeans find Americans obnoxious because we are so loud in public, weak because we are unable to tell it how it is to your face, and arrogant because we are US-centric.  Let me shoot down my own ego and admit to you here: every single one of those is true.  Being here has given me an amazing new perspective that has completely altered the way I view the world.

In five hours, my program is heading off on another field trip to Frankfurt, headquarters of the European Central Bank–the institution that sets the entire monetary policy for the 17 countries of the Eurozone–to discuss macroeconomics with a Senior Press Officer and a Principal Economist of the ECB.  Professor Holland, eat your heart out.  I haven’t been to Frankfurt since it kicked my butt on the way in with the 7 escalators and my 100 pounds of luggage–I have higher expectations this go around.  Then its off to Brussels and Paris for the rest of the week.  Like I said… best program ever.

Coughcough… I think I’m getting the black lung, pop.

I’ve had some pretty cool field trips in my life. No actually I take that back.. I’ve had some pretty cool days off of school in my life; the field trips (aka museum visits) were less than extraordinary.  But yesterday I had a field trip to Schauinsland-Bergwerk with my International Economic Relations in the EU class (thats the one with the 27 year old professor, Heiko, all the girls adore).  

We were told we were going to a mine and to wear good shoes and clothes that can get dirty.  What would you expect when you were told that?  I went into the trip thinking it was going to be like a cave, which I have visited on a school field trip. We’d see some stalagmites, go “Ohh, ahhh” and be on our way…  Not this time.  At 3pm, the bus drops us off at a tiny village in the crevice of some gorgeous mountains.  We start hiking and by 3:45 we’re walking down a small gravel road and stop at  a tiny opening in the side of a hill. Our guide then proceeds to roll out a cart of yellow hard hats, simultaneously informing us, “You’re going to need these.”  I turn to Heiko and proclaim, “I didn’t wake up wanting to die today”, to which his only response of comfort was, “Me either”.  

We walk a little way into the mine and stop at a table where we attach spotlights to the front of our hats.  YEP, this was legit mining.  To even get into the part of the mine we were touring, we had to climb down six–SIX, PEOPLE, SIX–sets of tiny wooden ladders.  To emphasize how traumatizing this was for me, I can’t even climb the ladder to a lofted bed without my heart racing.  And I had to crawl down these narrow little wooden ladders, in a wet and dark mine.  After I stood at the top, staring down the first ladder, switching back and forth between the phrases, “I don’t think I can do this” and “I hate you Heiko, I hate you”, I eventually sucked it up and started climbing (but I was rambling out of pure fright every step of the way).  I kind of felt like I could go sky-diving after that.  The rest of the mining experience was pretty awesome, except for the part where cave water dripped into my ear.  If I grow a second head, at least its documented why.  The rest can only be understood visually, so here’s my album:

https://picasaweb.google.com/afton.mortensen/SchauinslandBergwerk#

P.S. A cookie to anyone who got the Zoolander reference in my title!

Professors are crazy on every continent

SNOWPACALYPSE 2011.  So I missed history in the making–Purdue actually shut down school, and for two days at that.  How’s the weather in Freiburg?  Well I just walked back from town with a friend, eating gelato, sporting only a sweater… Yep.  Be jealous.  Its nice to be able to walk to class without breaking a hip.

Our first official week of classes in the IES European Union program is over.  The saying ‘Be careful what you wish for’ has never reality-slapped me so hard before.  In my management classes last semester, I dreamed of a class where the only thing you were responsible for knowing was the material in the book.  Instead I had classes where we had quizzes, homework, old exams, practice exams, practice problems, lecture slides… all these resources to study for for an exam.  Just reading seemed so simple and wonderful at the time.  Now I have four classes of simply reading, and I think I’m going to boycott my ability to read after this semester.  They love to read so much they even assign tons of papers, just so they can read some more.  I had to write a 5 page reflective essay about our meetings in Berlin and Prague, with a thesis and consistent theme.  Reflection has never hurt so much in my brain.

Its definitely not going to be a semester of coasting, like most would expect from a semester abroad. But I think I’m going to love that about it.  My International Economic Relations in the EU class has a 27 year old Ph.D. candidate as our professor and its his first time teaching in English.  But all the girls in the class don’t mind that we can barely understand him–because they spend half the class totally swooning over him.  My Finance and Banking professor is crazy in the best way possible.  In the middle of lecture, he interrupted himself to ask me the origin of my name.  ”It’s Scottish”, I replied and he continued to question whether it was common in the US. I told him no, not at all, to which his response was, “Oh.. thank God.”  Everyone sure got a kick out of that.  This guy is like that genius-nutcase kind of teacher, the kind everyone can’t help but love.  He only teaches in his spare time–his day job is running 5 financial companies.  Talk about real world experience.

I hope you all enjoy the Superbowl today.  It comes on at 12:30 AM here.  Unfortunately, I don’t think we get the American ads overseas. Best part  :(  Next weekend is the group ski trip to the Alps.  Germans totally have this field trip thing down right.

A little learning along the way

Before anyone starts thinking last weeks trip to Berlin and Prague was all fun and games, let me tell you what we did when we in the IES EU program weren’t meandering around the city late at night.

BERLIN

We went to Berlin and Prague after our first week of “Intensive Phase” classes.  My initial (and misguided) assumption was that it was going to be a week of helping us integrate.  It was more like the intellectual version of Navy SEAL Hell Week.  After the week long crash course on the in’s and out’s of the EU, my IES family and I took off to Berlin.  We spent our time there learning about life before and after November 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. We visited a former Stasi prison which I won’t even insult history by trying to describe it in 20 words here; it was horrific.  Tuesday we met with two former citizens of East Germany to ask them questions about the deprivation and injustice they faced living in the GDR.  We were also able to see the Reichstag building, the home of the European Parliament. Unfortunately, because of the near fatal disease I contracted (aka cold), I wasn’t able to see everything I would’ve liked to in Berlin, but the meetings hosted by IES were still great.  I did however get to see the hotel where Michael Jackson famously held his infant over the side of the railing.  I’m sure some of you will find that way more interesting than the European Parliament building, understandably of course.

PRAGUE

In Prague, we learned all about the Communist era before the Czech Republic entered into the EU.  We met with the Chief International Editor of Prague’s financial newspaper (which I literally couldn’t even try to pronounce) and a professor at the Institute for International Relations to discuss Czech’s transition into a market economy and their EU membership.  The meetings in Prague are what hit me the most.  It was incredible to get my head outside of America’s issues and problems and hear about countries who have suffered and struggled–in my opinion–so much more than us to be where they are.

NEXT TIME YOU HATE ON THE US…

They’ve faced so much corruption, mistrust, and injustice, it made all of our problems in the US seem so meager.  You may complain about the way Obama is leading our country.  Can you imagine the government having a tape recorder underneath the floorboards in every room of your house, recording every private conversation you have?  And that sweet little old lady living across the hall is working for the government doing everything she can to find something to inform on your for.  One crack about the leaders of your country and you’d spend 15 years in a 5 by 5 room with a wooden plank as a bed and bucket as a toilet for being a “threat to your nation”.  How would you feel going to a headquarters today in 2011, telling them your name, and receiving a cart-full of every single letter, phone call, and conversation from 6 years of your life typed up on pieces of paper  and your daily actions narrated by someone you’ve never met in your life (See the movie “The Live of Others”, its incredible). We can moan and complain about our government, but as the story goes, there is always much worse.  We are lucky to have the right to be negative if we want to be.  I guess this means I learned something.  …. hate it when they do that.

As soon as I got up today, back safely in Freiburg, I had a horrible feeling of homesickness.  I don’t miss my house or my apartment at Purdue, I just plain missed America.  As it got worse, my friend Blake and I got into a conversation about the Eurozone crisis and the recent protesting in Egypt.  I don’t know how, but in some warped way, it totally destroyed my want to go home.  I’m in the Eurozone.  It’s not some distant, irrelevant problem.  I’m here and it affects me.  Thats kind of cool.  It also probably helped we were sitting in Burger King having this conversation.

Here’s the link to see my pictures from Berlin and Prague.

http://picasaweb.google.com/afton.mortensen

Sorry for the length and lack of humiliating stories in this post.  Any students that are interested in studying abroad in the EU or anywhere else and you would like me to write about or take pictures of something specific, just let me know!