Allegheny College Study Abroad Fall 2010

The best example of my role as an American ambassador is my relationship with my house mom. My house mom was the biggest homebody I've ever met...in her 60-something years she had never even visited Paris, let alone traveled outside of France. I was only the third student she'd ever hosted and I was the first American. I not only had the opportunity to educate her on American culture, but I was the first American person she'd had the chance to speak to and I became her first American friend. As such, I was her sole impression of the US aside from American tv shows (house mom was a HUGE fan of CSI Miami!). I had an amazing relationship with her, and so I believe I gave her a good impression of Americans.

My housemom asked me questions about America all the time, from whether or not we all really drive enormous cars to how we celebrate Christmas. It was a continuous exchange of culture between us, and I am certain I represented my country as best as I could. I helped open my house mom's eyes to a part of the world she knew little about and made a great friend in the process.

Whenever I told an acquaintance in Argentina that I was from the United States, there were inevitably a slew of questions about our culture, traditions, politics, and country as a whole. Media from the United States is EVERYWHERE in Argentina and so many people assume that everything they see on tv is how it actually it is in North America. I had an internship with an organization that is a lot like Habitat for Humanity in the US, where groups of young people go into the neighborhoods outside of the city of Buenos Aires and build houses. On my first weekend, one of the guys in my group heard that I was from the United States and asked me if I was ready for my first look at poverty. Confused, I asked him to explain and he described a typical middle class neighborhood as how everyone in the US lives. I told him that while a large part of the population lives that way, there are still people who are unemployed or homeless and live in a state of poverty. Roughly translated, he responded, “I know, but that’s why you have extreme makeover home edition.” I couldn’t believe that this 24 year old educated man honestly believed that a tv makeover show was the solution to all poverty in our country, but the show plays so frequently here that it honestly does appear that anytime a family in the US needs a home Ty Pennington shows up at their door to build it for them. On another note, Argentines love to discuss and debate just about anything, but especially politics. Because of that interest, I often found myself being asked things about our political system that I honestly couldn’t answer. However, wanting to represent the US the best I could I found myself working harder to follow politics and understand happenings at home. Between trying to represent a clearer version of the US than television and working to understand my own country, I found being a US ambassador to be a time consuming job.

I have been back home for about 2 months now and have had a lot of time to reflect on my life changing experiences in Australia. When people asked me where I was from first I would say America then I would say that I go to school at Allegheny College in Meadville PA. The reason I linked these two statements together is because I feel they both define who I am. One of the most amazing parts of Allegheny is the diverse curriculum that it offers and that is one thing that i brought with me to Australia. I tried to take a wide variety of classes and even took on one extra class to really try and take advantage of my experience. the other thing that allegheny has taught me is to be a leader and a team player. There was a big group of people in my circle of friends and one thing we all loved to do is travel. Everybody has such different things that they would want to do it was tough to have it be organized and people looked at me to do it. I came up with many different trips that we could all take that would keep everybody happy. When my friends would say, "wow you are a great leader" I would say I owe it all to allegheny. This is one of the ways I was an ambassador of Allegheny people were able to see what a great education Allegheny offers and how it builds your character. I had a lot of fun but I can't wait to get back to my second home at Allegheny.

In my last post, I talked about how Oxford University is an interesting mixture of very old traditions and a cutting-edge research environment, and how the university strives to bring these two ideas together in a way that isn’t exclusionary and inward-looking. Term has not yet started up here, so it is still somewhat rather quiet, and truth-be-told, I was having something of a difficult time trying to answer this question. However, today I received a great deal of correspondence from tutors and the university in several different forms, and this has helped me to answer the question!
Oxford still seems to be a place where oral communication is considered appropriate for arranging meetings, which is really quite odd from my perspective, where e-mail is preferred. Even when I am at home with my family, I still e-mail them things depending on whether or not they are out of the house, or if I simply want to remind them of something that is coming-up (it’s better that way, I think, because I tend to forget about meetings, so if I don’t remind someone when it’s on my mind, there is a chance the meeting or event or whatever will never happen). Today, I got a call from my tutorial partner for next term, who proceeded to set up a meeting with me for Monday to discuss a few things related to the tutorial. This wouldn’t be so strange, of course, except for the fact that the tutor had told him (in person) to call me and set this up when she had access to e-mail herself! The first time something like this happened, I felt a bit odd about the whole transaction, as it seemed terribly inefficient or, at least, had the potential to be that way. However, as last term wore on, I found that many tutors will do things like this, and it seems to work fine. What it suggests to me is that there is a way to not rely on various pieces of technology, and the whole transaction does seem a bit more personal, especially since such transactions are very seldom simply someone calling and saying “Meet you at half-six,” but often include a full conversation. Not only do I feel closer to tutorial partners because of this, but I think it reflects a more laid-back approach to work; just so long as what needs to get done gets done, there is nothing wrong with taking your time and enjoying the company of the people you work with.
In keeping with the eschewal of e-mail, I’ve also found that the university does not have anything at all like what Allegheny has in terms of a Chompergram. I never realized how much I’d miss that until I got here; I always found it sort of silly. In first term, I often missed things I really would have rather liked to attend simply because I had no idea that the things were going on. A lot of information relating to lectures and events are posted on scattered bulletin boards, which was something I did not realize. I’ve found that Oxford doesn’t look after you in this regard: if you are interested in a topic or some type of event, it is your job to find out what is offered and get there on your own. I think this reflects a great deal of confidence in students and their abilities to find things out on their own.
I still like the Chompergram, though.

Being back in the U.S. for a short period of time, I constantly find myself thinking of my experience while in Spain. This study abroad experience has impacted my individuality and my understanding of the world. This said, I can only hope that I had a positive impact on the people I met while in Spain as well. I feel I played the role of both an American ambassador and Allegheny ambassador. It was exciting when I was questioned on what Americans eat, how I feel about the current political issues of the U.S., the American college experience, etc. I enjoyed answering questions honestly and tried to be insightful. At the same time, I had a true fascination with learning the Spanish culture and how I could fit in it. As always in any culture, there were some things I could not emotionally deal with. I remember one night sitting with my host dad explaining on why I did not want to watch the bull fight on TV. I told him I understood that it was a part of the culture and that, to some people, it can be perceived as beautiful. I thought this aspect of Spain was infuriating, but after my experience there I understood their strong beliefs in keeping traditions and customs. Now I can accept this custom as a traditional aspect of their culture----even if I still refuse to support it.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve arrived in Oxford, but one aspect of the trip here still stands out in my mind. I’m something of a stubborn person, and I hate to ask for assistance. At the same time, however, I have no problem with accepting assistance when it is offered to me.
After an incredibly long journey from Pittsburgh to London, and then up to Oxford, I was quite tired and ready simply to take a shower and go to sleep for a day or so. I arrived at St. Peter’s, got my room keys and what turned out to be rather poor directions to my accommodations. I’d packed pretty light (compared to other visiting students, at least), but it was still quite an ordeal to drag two suitcases along the busy, narrow pavements of Oxford. I was unable to find my building, but I continued to look for it rather than admit defeat. This went on for several hours. I eventually decided that I was so far from where I thought I was told to go that it couldn’t possibly be in this area, so I returned to college and simply waited outside for someone to come by that might realize I was lost. Another hour went by.
Eventually, a wonderful lady offered to assist me, gave me a pastry, and helped me find a taxi, which took me to my building. By this point, I was absolutely exhausted, not to mention incredibly thankful for her assistance.
It occurred to me afterward that, obviously, there is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about in asking directions when you’re in an unfamiliar place, and that I could have saved a few hours of frantic searching by simply swallowing my pride and consulting people who knew the area. In a wider sense, this is probably what travelling is all about—giving up on your personal know-how and learning to accept ideas and suggestions from “locals”.

I’ve actually only just reached the half-way point in my study at Oxford, but I have learned a great deal about my own society from being here in the UK. First, the world is a huge place; this sounds like nonsense, but it’s incredible to see and meet people from all over the world with a variety of ideas of what things are important; it was really a crash-course in pluralism to see how people who disagree on fundamental issues—religion and politics have been big—could all learn from one another and come to some position where they respect one another. Secondly, I’ve realized some hard economic truths about my own country (beyond the exchange rate)—there is, indeed, a way to provide healthcare and other benefits that work well for the public, and I’ve come more and more convinced that it is the government’s role to do this; also, I’ve realized that student debt is a huge problem in the United States compared to here, where education is regarded as a right, and raising fees to 9,000 GBP a year was regarded as an outrage. When I return to the United States, I hope to talk about this with people, and I plan, also, to get more involved in the political process concerning these issues. Finally, I had the opportunity to attend the tuition fees protest in London (don’t worry, I didn’t toss the fire extinguisher from Millbank), and it really showed me that the youth do care about politics, and can be mobilized; although the violence was scary at times, it was the only outlet for frustration with a government that would not listen to them, and it really inspired me and set me on fire, as it were, to stand up for better systems of representation in the United States.
All of these are perspectives that I do not believe I could have gained in the United States, and it’s showed me how different the UK is from the United States, shattering my misconception that they were pretty similar. It’s become apparent to me that students would definitely benefit from studying abroad, just so long as they attempt to integrate themselves—as much as possible—into their host culture; otherwise, you’ve missed out on everything except the academics.

There is a spanish word, remordamientos, which means regrets. For me, the meaning of the spanish word is stronger, perhaps because of the harsh sound it makes when said aloud. I am sad that I am not longer in Spain for the spring semester, but as a result of this sadness I have realized that I do not have any of these regrets. Yes, there were places/cities that i wanted to visit and couldn't in the end, or activities i wanted to do and in the end didn't have time, but really I am quite content with what happened in Spain during my semester abroad as an "Allegheny Ambassador." Bestowing such a title upon myself seems strange at first, but makes sense because of the following story. My spanish roommate and good friend Pedro is one of the best pianists i have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and he's only 18. Fulfilling the Allegheny slogan of "Unusual Combinations," he's also studying philosophy, in a country where studying a double major is practically unheard of, especially something as disconnected as Spanish and Chemistry like myself. Through getting to know Pedro throughout the semester, and hearing him play toward the end, was quite the treat for me as a musician. While a majority of the music vocabulary was difficult and unknown for me in Spanish, we still had an excellent afternoon playing and talking in one of the Conservatory's practice rooms. I extended the offer for him to come visit me sometime in the states, as he's never been here, and I hope that we will be able to have such excellent experiences here as well. My role as an Allegheny ambassador was fulfilled in such a situation through my actions connecting my world of music to that of a good Spanish friend.

I just had a discussion with someone the other day about what it means to be a citizen of the world; he eventually told me that, even though I love England, I’ll never be anything more than an Anglophile; “All the same,” he said, “I still love you, man”.
Like the girl in the article we had to read a few assignments ago, I really don’t feel that I’ve become a citizen of the world (I’m not quite sure what “citizen of the world” really means) while I’ve been here, even though I’ve tried so hard to integrate myself into the culture; I am still an American, and people have various expectations as to how Americans behave. What the experience has impressed upon me is that citizenship of the world is a slippery notion, and I really don’t know what it really is. What I do know, however, is that if we ever want to get something along those lines, then there is a real onus on Americans to travel to other countries and be good ambassadors, ready to listen, lend a helping hand, learn from others, and respect differences. As far as I and my friends are concerned at this point, I’m not an American—I’m just another person—national borders and lines on a map aren’t important. I’ve come to the conclusion that t is only in this way that “global citizenship” or something that has some of the same motivations and imagined results can be achieved. I hope that I’ve done my part, and I encourage everyone else to do the same.

When I arrived in Oxford, one of my goals was to really integrate into the college fabric; in reality, what this meant--due to how the other visiting students moved about--was that I would end up having really only foreign friends, and really, these are some of the best friends I've ever had. Now that I've just arrived home, and it still hasn't struck me that this is the end of all that, I'm starting to think about what it was that I was able to offer St. Peter's College, Oxford as an American, and I can't help but frame that in terms of my friends: what did I offer my friends as an American? The most obvious answer is that I came from a completely different place, with a totally different set of personal experiences because of that; while I was in England, I didn't realize just how different it was from the United States. Sure, people had accents, spellings were a bit different, and all that, but when I arrived in Boston International Airport, I was amazed at what I saw: even the people look different here, social norms are different, too. People will come up and talk to people in queues, which was something I'd not experienced for 9 months, for example.
With my friends, I was able to talk about a number of aspects of American culture not so much explicitly, but just by the way I acted, and the occassional "we do things differently" comment. Due to my experience of having almost exclusively foreign friends, I could not really dwell on those sorts of things, and I had to adapt. So, I guess that's what I was able to show them: even though I am an American, and there are so many stereotypes about our being pushy, stubborn, and rude, it is not the case that the one American they really know is like that since he tried so hard--and succeeded, I think--in integrating himself in the group, adopting various ways of doing things, and showed an active interest in the culture.
I still can't believe that I just arrived home last night; I feel like I'm outside of myself watching myself. This was really the best nine months of my life, and I truly believe it was because I wanted so badly to be integrated into the wider college fabric, make friends from faraway places, and brought an unique perspective to a great many conversations.