The Final Countdown

  There is so much that I have obtained from this trip and I know that I have grown and kind of changed a little in the month that I have been here. One of those things is me stepping out of my comfort zone and the knowladge I have gained that helps me view things differently. The information that was most meaningful to me after completing this study abroad program was just again the knowladge that I gained, as cliche as that sounds, but it is true. Before this trip, I couldn't even tell you where Austria or the Czech Republic was on a map. Now I can not only do that, but I could tell you the history behind some of the countries. Like for example the story of Empress Sissi. I was hoping at the beginning of this trip that I would gain a lot of knowladge about each country I visited and I did very much so. It's kind of nice to be able to not only be more culturally aware of differences between me and people from other countries, but also to know more about what kind of governemt they run and the history behind it all. I also thougt it was cool that as much as we were learning about other countries, people from other countries were learning about us. People from other countries were interested to know where we were from, what we liked to do for fun, what our carrer goals were etc. It was a two way street, we were teaching them, while they were teaching us. I hope that from the informantion I gained while on this trip helps me pay more attention to what is going on in other countries and not being so isolted in my bubble that is home. I also hope to share this knowladge with my friends and family when I get home and hopefully one day my kids will want to travel abroad and I can tell them to do it becuase I had the best experiece of my life here and I know they will too.    

Learning the Gothic

  In this course the kind of things I am learning are obviously surrounded by the Gothic genre and what it is, why it's so important/popular, but also I am learning about different cultures. When I first started out in this course, I had an understanding of the Gothic genre and what it was, however I did not realize how popular it was and how it is incorporated almost everywhere in everyday life. Once I was taught what was to be considered Gothic, I was able to find it all over. For example, wanting to know if a building is Gothic or not. If it is pointy and old looking or has a black decaying look to it, then it is most likely Gothic. Also when we discussed what kinds of elements made up the typical Gothic novel, again I was better able to point out what is Gothic and what isn't. I also have learned about the different cultures just by being in other countries and experiencing how other people go about their day-to-day lives. I always have said I could probably learn more in one day's worth of being in another country than I could in a classroom. This trip has definitely helped proven that theory. Back home, everything is routine when it comes to learning. I get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and then drive to school and dread the long day ahead and urn to go home. It is different when you are traveling abroad not only because the learning environment is different but because each day I woke up not really knowing what the day had in store for me. I knew what city I was in and what I'd be doing as far as class time was concerned, but after that it was like lets just go with the flow and see where life takes me. Most of the time I was not disappointed with where I wound up and I had a lot of fun. The kind of knowledge I have learned on this study abroad trip is kind of not something you can fully describe to someone who hasn't had the opportunity I have had. It's more along the lines of you kind of have to go out and experience it for yourself to understand how I feel and what knowledge I have gained. There is however, the kind of knowledge that you can gain by reading your textbook or going online and Google-ing it, but its more efficient when you can actually go to that country you are learning about and seeing it or physically being in the same room as say an Empress once stood in.

Attitude Adjustment

People's attitudes towards things such as personal space or how to treat foreigners tends to differ depending on what country you are in. I think for the most part in Vienna the people seemed annoyed that a lot of us as American's did not make any kind of attempt to learn common phrases to try to communicate with them. We relied on them to know English and if they didn't then it made things a lot more difficult. For me personally, when I was on the subway I was talking to someone in the group thinking no one around me spoke English or if at all not much. That wasn't the case though he understood me but said most people probably just don't want to talk to us (as in American's.) Which makes me think that a lot of people don't like American's or again they don't like that we don't even attempt to try to speak their language. In Prague it was not the opposite necessarily, but I feel like the people didn't care if we spoke Czech because they know it is not a commonly used language, so in order to meet us in the middle, most of them learn English early on. In London there wasn't much of a language difference except with some different phrases (for example saying "cheers." I think that for anyone traveling to another country it is probably polite to learn a few simple conversation words. That way the people in that country know you are at least making an attempt even if you butcher the word and then they can meet in the middle by speaking your language. 

London Visuals

Vienna

The buildings here are different here than back in my hometown. There aren't any skyscrapers but rather the they were all about the same height. They all have a contemporary style to them rather than Gothic. The landscaping is in order and is consistent. I am not sure what I expected but it wasn't this. The city is smaller city than it appears to be especially considering it is one of the smallest cities in Austria. There was a big culture shock in Vienna mostly because of the language barrios (they speak German). Those that did speak English knew very little or if they did it was hard to understand with the accent and how quickly they talk. The city itself just seems so busy, people just seem to be constant go, go, go. One thing that astonished me was that you had to pay to drink water at a restraint and also to use public bathrooms. This is because they are a capitalist country and they think why I should let you use my facilities if you won't give me anything for it (unless of course you dine in). I am just so used to having those kinds of things in America be free to me that I really took it for granted without even realizing it.

The Emotional Rollercoaster

  When I first found out that I was going to be studying abroad in Great Britain, I was feeling a lot of different emotions, and some of those emotions changed during the course of my stay and some stayed the same. At first I was excited that I was even getting to go at all. I didn't feel like I was actually going to go until I actually was on the airplane getting here. I thought someone was going to say to me "oh just kidding you not actually going, you have to stay home this summer." I was nervous about a lot of things like flying for the first time or not making a new friends. I was put more at ease about the group of students I was going with the more we got into the swing of things. At first I only recognized faces and knew a few names in the pre-departure meetings and now that we have spent so much time together I know everyone and I feel like I had a good group of students to study overseas with. I don't think I can say that I was ever upset or mad at anyone else in the group at any point so far. A lot of us I feel were having the same types of emotions and such that we were able to express them amongst each other. I am an introvert, so I have learned that if I am mad at a situation to just remove myself for a while and go up to my room and let myself calm down so I don't do anything too irrational. There are definitely some times where I think we have grown tired of each other, but that is normal when you spend a lot of time with people. It's kind of like family, you argue with the ones you love the most because in the end they have to forgive you. Any emotions we do end up having were either rationally hashed out between the people it involved or they just wrote about it or expressed it in some kind of way and kept it to themselves. There has been a lot of anger starting among some people because of different views on different things but everyone is entitled to their own opinions and if someone doesn't like it then they can change the subject. I think just being able to adjust to how everyone on this trip acts towards different situations makes it easier to adapt to everything else that may happen because of it.

Prague

  The buildings around Prague kind of remind me of small town houses, but most are like small businesses. I never really had any high expectations for Prague because I am not going to lie, it is a country I did not know much about but I loved it a lot, I was not disappointed and I would definitely go back. I guess if I really did have to describe what my expectations for Prague was, it would be like a city with large/ high buildings. But that was not the case a lot of them were about average height. I did notice that in Prague there is not a lot of landscaping. It seemed like there were a lot of buildings that were closely put together and what little landscaping there was, was at a park or in a garden. A decent amount of Prague had something Gothic to it that helps learn about the culture. I didn't realize how much Gothic things there are in most of Europe until I learned what it was for something to be considered Gothic. At this point if you don't know just look for buildings that have points on the top like a triangle and if they look really old. Some of the cultural insights I have learned from this critique are overall just realizing for yourself how different stuff is everywhere you go. I think when I get back home that because of this trip I will realize how not everyone does things exactly the way I do, especially in other states when there may be more farmland than city or vice versa.