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.