Monday, May 30, 2011

Finals friends and frustrations!

Dober dan!

Just giving you all another fabulous update from yours truly.  No trips at the moment, just busy with school and enjoying the country.  I am actually one hour away from taking my first final out of 3.  Geneologies of Citizenship to be exact.  The class is really unorganized, hence the reason I'm writing in my blog instead of studying.  Our professor decided to change our exam from being oral to written today on the day of so it makes it much easier for me.  He also did not even have a class room for us to take it in until one hour ago.  Ugh, this lack of structure will certainly be evident on the final I am sure.  I have a final in Crisis Management and Contemporary Political Theories as well which I need to pass, I've been studying all weekend but the professors make it kind of unclear as to what the tests will be like and how to prepare for them.  Is this because the students need to be self sufficient or is it a lack of preparation on the professor's part...who knows!  I finished a huge group project in Communication Management last week. (27 pages on a communication plan for a Slovenian wood laquer company and how to improve their market sales) with a group of 4 other Slovenian girls.  It was a lot of fun and challenging but definitely not my field of interest.  I used my psych training to profile our potential customers but from what I get from Communication Management, it is a lot of manipulation in order to get anything sold.  Thats the way the world works, thank god I won't be doing that for a living though...I'm not the salesy type :P  Because of all this schoolwork I've been really taking it easy in regards to having a social life.  This weekend I stayed at the dorms for the most part studying only to go out for dinner with a friend and running with a friend.  Time to get down to business and fun is not in the agenda!

Before school took over my life I went to a lot of the Majske Igre concerts and parties.  Student social events around Ljubljana that attracted thousands of people for good music and fun!  I've also attended a few goodbye parties for Erasmus students who are now beginning to leave for home.  My departure is exactly July 15 so I need to start thinking seriously of how to spend my time here too!  My family is coming next week! I'm really excited but also need to figure out how to manage my time with them, friends, and studies.  I would love to just shirk everything and travel with them but I know this last month is precious and needs to be divided equally between the three different catagories.  I still want to visit my roommate Petra's home in Ptuj and explore Slovenia even  more.  I think my sister and I will also go to Vienna for the weekend and see what Austria is all about.  My parents also want to do some traveling in Italy and Croatia so I will have limited time for everything else. Oiiii!  Things are definitely feeling different too, I know my time is running out and I'm really comfortable here now...kind of scary to think how things will drastically change again in one month when I go back to the States.  I can safely say I'm not the same person I was when I left for Europe, lets hope I can feel comfortable once again on American soil.

Speaking of America, I have a whole new perspective on my nationality and country.  For some reason last week I had a few uncomfortable occurences that really shook me up.  To begin I think it is clear that most Americans know they have to deal with a pretty nasty stereotype.  When it comes to foreign policy, and internal social and political conflicts some Europeans think they know it all and are quick to judge our country and its practices.  I usually let it roll off my shoulders when someone makes a "funny" joke about the way we do things, and yes sometimes its okay to poke fun of our culture etc.  I don't agree with everything our country does but I don't think its any different than the problems that all nations encounter at some time. But I have a problem with hating someone on the basis of their nationality.  Anyway someone I considered a mature, decent, somewhat friend got pretty inebriated and started yelling at me at how he hates America and everything it does and stands for as well as how he thinks its people are stupid and ignorant etc etc.  I was really struck silent because I did not know this person felt that way until this instance.  I really did not have much to say in terms of how we steal oil and wage war against everyone blah blah.  Sometimes its better not to argue and let the person realize that the issue is not worth fighting over.  I never gave this person a reason to hate me or project my "American" viewpoint on their Slovene way of life.  I'm not going to argue with someone who blindly hates me so I just held my tounge.  Unfortunately I have to see this person on a daily basis because we live close to each other.  Its natural that something like this would happen eventually but I'm still shocked that it was from someone I regarded as a friend. 

Coincidentally the next day in class we watched a film on American warfare and our motives behind our recent wars.  Being the only American in the class I felt like everyones eyes were burning through the back of my head as we watched U.S. Soliders train for killing in Iraq.  Ugh I don't know how to address this issue.  I think this is a large problem for many Americans who travel outside of their country.  With American media such as music, films, tv, permeating most of Europe it seems like people here think they know our culture better than we do.  I know most of the world has a strong opinion on our view of war and foreign policy which is fine but when it comes to judgment on an individual American citizen I think they have it all wrong.  We don't all contain the values projected by MTV and CNN.  I just can't take closeminded people in or outside my country.  Needless to say last week was rough, I almost had to leave class when they were interviewing a lot of ignorant Americans who were talking nonsense.  Its not anyones fault but its really annoying to have a specific national attitude projected on me as an individual, it just made me sick.  So theres another frustration that you may run into while studying and traveling abroad (potential international students take note)  Maybe one day we can work to fix this problem but its going to take more than a few people's commitments, it has to be a global change!

with love,
Millie

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