Bitter-sweet Thanksgivings and Goodbyes

International Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving means the end.

When the Halloween costumes have been put in the boxes and the jack-o-lanterns have rotten, everything seems to be heading to the final. Supermarkets are filled with turkey, sweet potatoes and cranberries. Everybody's ready to be thankful. Two weeks after Thanksgiving, international students at the University of Richmond will return to their home countries and universities. They are going home and leaving one, too.
    Three months have passed since their American stay officially began. They have one more to go. Their expectations were diverse when they were coming, but they had something in common. They hoped to improve their English and to meet new people. They were both scared and excited.
    "I got on a plane and I thought,  'What the hell are you  doing?!,'" says Gabriela Arribillaga from Argentina. "'Four months is a lot of time. You will miss your home and the people.' But I didn't expect to find a huge and so nice group of people here."
   

International Girls (Photo by Laura Arnejo Barrenengoa)

International students spend almost all of their time together. They live together, eat together and study together in the 24/7 open library. For four months they become not just each other's friends but also family.
    "I have met people from all around the world during my stay at the UR," says Kaho Ha, a Business Administration major from Spain. "At the beginning I felt closer and more identified with people from Spanish-speaking countries, and it was easier to create relationships with them. As time went by, I got to know the other students better and believe we have become very good friends too."
    You are thrown in a small microcosmos within a big unknown and foreign world. It is natural you stick to something or someone you know at least a little better than the others.
    "The relationships here are much more intense," says Arribillaga. "You are in a different country on your own, you have no one you know there for you, so you get very close to people very fast."
Within this miniature multicultural world in the middle of Virginia, you can share common concerns, homesickness and glad-times. Two heads are better than one.
    Besides fast friendships, there is one more thing that feels exceptional to  international students living on the small campus of the University of Richmond. You are never alone. You live with one, two or three other people, usually internationals as well. You go to class, to lunch, to the library and to a party or watch a movie. And you do all of this in the presence of someone else. It is also hard to get off campus, internationals usually don't have a car.  And the absence of solitude is regarded both as positive and negative aspects of university life.
    "We are all the time together," says Alessandra Fumagalli from Milan, Italy. "There is always someone with you, you don't get lonely. Of course, I need some time for myself. Sometimes I just have a cigarette or coffee by myself. But most of the time I appreciate there is someone I can talk to or just be with. That is why I am a little afraid of going home. I am afraid of being lonely."
    One of the hard parts of becoming a part of the international community abroad is finding a way of being yourself in a foreign environment. Sometimes because of lack of language experience, sometimes because of the need to compromise to get on with such a big group of people.

International Boys (Photo by Laura Arnejo Barrenengoa)

    "Nobody here is themselves. At least not at the beginning," says Arribillaga. "I have a very strong and clean-cut personality. I have to think twice about what I say. You have to be more tolerant and think carefully before acting. The friends at home know you already, they are familiar with who you are, understand your jokes and behavior. At the start it takes some compromising especially because we come from different cultures all around the world."
      The about-to-return-home internationals are surprisingly uniform in their feelings about leaving their little international world in Richmond. They feel like they have just established firm relationships, gotten to know other people better and have to leave in a very short time. They describe their state of mind as awkward.  On the one hand looking forward to seeing their families and friends, but not wanting to leave the friends they have met here and might never see again.
    "I don't want to leave, because I know this might be my only experience abroad," says Fumagalli. "It's a period of my life I will always remember and I am sure I will miss the place and people a lot. On the other hand, I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends back home." 
    Some of the internationals are self-conscious about their return, afraid they might have changed and that trying to fit back in their circle of peers, once so natural and close, might be a little embarrassing now.
    "I think I might be a little lonely at the beginning," says Arribillaga. "And my friends might get annoyed, because I will be talking about my experience all the time."
 

The Farewell Reception

The three words "keep in touch" are common for all of them. The truth is that these days, in the time of e-mails, Skype and Facebook, long distance communication is much easier. On the other hand, once you return to your real life, the impressions and experience fade away.  It turns out to be more difficult than everybody thinks.
    "I hope to keep in touch with people, even though I know it is very difficult," comments Arribillaga. "I can imagine that at the beginning we will be on Facebook all the time, but after some time it will become difficult to stay in touch."
A Czech student, Pavel Hrbek, who has previous experience with studying abroad, agrees, "I have been abroad and I know how hard it is to keep in touch with people, even though you really want to. I will be sincerely happy if there is at least one person with which I will still be in contact a year after."
    Thanksgiving will not be a very happy time for the internationals. They definitely have a lot to be thankful for after their stay at the University of Richmond Most of them are planning to travel and experience a lot of adventures before they leave for home.  But they will have a bittersweet flavor.    
    "Don't get me wrong, I am really looking forward to going home," concludes Arribillaga. "But I would love to take all the internationals to Argentina with me."

It is (not) all About Politics

Will President Obama let the tax cuts for the wealthy expire, or will the Republicans be successful and have Bush's cuts extended? Christine O'Donnell, a Tea Party candidate, just won the Delaware Republican primary, to the surprise of the general public.  She defeated a political matador, Mike Castle. New York is having trouble transferring from mechanical to computerized voting machines.
    This is what we see in the news every day. Headlines are full of the upcoming midterm elections and almost everything that is connected to them. But what do ordinary people think? Are they interested in politics at all? What do students and workers at the University of Richmond know about campaigns in their home states?
    Kassie Pollard, a sophomore from Tennessee, is interested in politics and keeps in touch with what is going on in her home town of Nashville.  She was asked to help out with a local campaign. "It was supposed to be a governor’s campaign for Democrats, but I turned the offer down," says Pollard, and explains, "I am very moderate and I come from a Republican family. I think they asked me because I went to school in a mainly Democratic county, so they assumed I was a Democrat as well, but I wasn't."
Some campaign commercials have stayed with her.  “I remember seeing an ad for a Republican candidate who invited some of the local Christian artists to speak.  For me, as a Christian, it was very interesting.  I thought this person might have some Christian values and I started to watch him," she says.
    Her peer, Rose Wynn from Maryland, says she cares about politics, but doesn't consider it to be a large part of her regular conversation. She, on the other hand, comes from a Democratic family and also describes her personal political leaning as Democratic. 
"I think more seats will be taken by Republicans as opposed to the president," Wynn says.  "It also depends on how Obama well supports Democratic candidates."
On this point she’s in accord with Thad Williamson, a political scientist from Virginia. He assumes that the results of the mid-term elections will partly depend on how hard Barack Obama campaigns and how effective he will be. "I think Republicans will gain seats, the question is how many," Williamson says. "However, Democrats will keep a slender majority."
Another influential aspect, according to Williamson might be current economic news.
     We won’t know whether these predictions were right or wrong until November. What is clear now is that even if politics is not topic number one for students at the University of Richmond, they still have at least an approximate view of what is going on in the world of suits, ties and big speeches.  

Richmond Fruit Punch

I didn't want to go and couldn't wait to do it at the same time. The University of Richmond was supposed to be waiting for me, but was it really? I didn't want to leave my family, boyfriend and friends. On the other hand, this was what I had always wanted - traveling, meeting new people, getting in a challenging environment. I was standing over my empty suitcase and didn't know what to take with me. I was leaving the next day. Six hours to go. How do you pack to live four months of your life? My feelings were mixed up like a big bowl of fruit punch: apples for sadness, pineapple for excitement and peaches for confusion.     

I wake up at 9:30.  To be precise, I am woken up by the alarm clock. It has been two months since I last woke up in my bed in Prague, Czech Republic. My eyelashes are stuck together and don't seem to want to come apart. It’s time to go to class. I am not very aware of what clothes I put on and how my hair looks, since I went to sleep at 3 a.m. And I don't even care. There is always some work to be done at the University of Richmond.  Everybody is busy and tired. The loads of work during the semester are mind-bending compared to what I have been used to from my home university.

The Boatwright Library (Photo by Pavel Hrbek)

    What strikes you first while entering class at University of Richmond is the number of class enrollment.  There are never more than 20 people in class, usually from 10 to 15.  And the attitude is different, both students’ and professors’.  The students are very competitive and hard-working, each of them wants to be the best and they participate a lot in the class. Professors encourage this behavior by initiating discussion and making students react to what they have learnt. The approach could be called “keep students busy.” . But on the other hand they are always there to help you and no question is considered stupid.
    Regular class assignments include readings, writing of papers and articles and doing projects and presentations. Even though I complain a lot about the amount of work we get, I appreciate the feeling that I actually am learning something.

The D-Hall

  While walking from class to Dining Hall, which everybody calls simply D-Hall, I don't admire the brick gothic buildings all around or the beautiful lake in the middle of the campus. It has become too familiar, an everyday routine. I remember seeing this fairy-tale, calm environment for the first time.  I was riding around in a cab that brought me from the airport with a driver who spoke worse English than I did, which made me very comfortable.  I felt like Harry Potter entering Hogwarts for the first time.
    Some people say that the food in D-Hall is not good, but in fact it is like a five-star hotel. There are amazing choices starting with hamburgers, a huge salad bar and about 10 different kinds of desserts. It is a huge meeting place. The International students occupy one long table. If you come there almost any time of the day, there is someone there who you can eat with. This coin has two sides -- you never have to eat alone, but you never have privacy either.

The International Table

The international students hang out with each other most of the time. We know some Americans from classes, but they rarely become our friends. Maybe it is because they already have their own friends, maybe because they know we are going to leave soon anyway, maybe they are not interested in people with different accents and cultural backgrounds.  I was a little upset about it at the beginning, because I really had not had to come to the U.S .to meet 20 Spanish, 12 Italian and 5 Danish people.  But as time went by I made so many friends from so many countries in the world, that I do not mind the fact that I don't know many Americans anymore.
     
    My suitcase was half full. Or half empty? Three hours to go. I couldn't even remember why I had wanted to go there. Do I really need so many shirts? What is the weather like there? Everybody in the house was sleeping.  It was very quiet.  Scary quiet.  Uncertain quiet that smells like peaches.

  

The Boatwright Library at night (Photo by Pavel Hrbek)

We spend our afternoons, evenings and nights in the library. Actually, we spend our lives there. The fact is that when you are looking for someone you are most likely to find him in the library. The library is open 24 hours a day. One day I was in the library, talking on Skype to my friend from the Czech Republic, which is six hours of time difference from Richmond. She went to bed and when she got up and signed up to Skype again, I was still in the library. We spend so much time there, because of the amount of work we have to do, but also because of the fact that the Boatwright Library is amazingly equipped.  It also offers places and opportunities to relax besides the study environment.
   The most stunning thing about the library for me and the other internationals is that you can drink and eat in there. That is unthinkable at home. It even has its own cafeteria on the ground floor. When it gets late, you see people with cups of coffee everywhere. And when it gets really late, usually about 2 a.m., and people are overworked and tired, that is when the best library stories happen. The most times when I was roaring with laughter at the UR were in the library, revealing the stress and tiredness.
 

Paper cups everywhere (Photo by Pavel Hrbek)

  It seems that nothing is impossible at the University of Richmond. And nothing is ever a problem. You get free newspapers, printing or laundry. If something breaks, like your bike or computer, they repair it for you for free. You can get help with your papers in the writing center or with your psychological struggles in the psychological center.  The gym is the best gym I have ever visited in my life.   The service and care here is perfect. Apart from keeping the students busy, they also try to keep them happy.
    University life in the US is different to the one in Europe. The campus of the UR is a big complex of class buildings, dorms, apartments, common buildings, gym, library, dining hall and many others. It is more like a little town than a school. It also has its own post office, health center and police station. Living on campus creates a nice and warm atmosphere of home as well as school spirit. On the other hand, some people call it a golden cage. We live in our own little universe separated from the outside world.
 

The Richmond Capitol

It is also hard to get in the city, even though it is not very far, just about 15 minutes drive.  If you don't have a car in the U.S., you are in trouble.  Everything is relatively far and the conditions are not much conformed to pedestrians. Even though the university runs regular shuttles to shopping areas and downtown as another part of great service for students, sometimes it is uncomfortable. You have to go certain times and days. If you really need to buy something on Sunday, you have to wait till Tuesday, because the shuttle does not go until then.
   
    An hour to go.  At the airport. I said the last goodbyes and set off for the trip. I finish the apples and get ready for pineapple. Richmond, here I come.

    The University of Richmond is a demanding but amazing place to stay. People are very warm and nice. The environment is homey as well as challenging. Most of the international students are staying for one semester. It is soon going to be over and it has not been enough. I hate the quantity of work we have to do, the lack of free time and the fact that you always have some assignment or test ahead. But when the time comes, it is going to be heartbreaking to say goodbye.

Hockey-Mom in the Skin of Political Celebrity

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

 

Outspoken.  Energizing.  Nitwit.  Family.  Brash and Republican.
These are some of the words used to describe Sarah Palin, the woman who came on the American political scene faster than a Lamborghini prototype. She built her career on her image, clear-cut conservative views and the use of social media. The former Alaska governor and John McCain’s running mate from 2008 presidential campaign was also Miss Wasilla 1984. She evokes diverse reactions. She knows how to turn people on. 

Sarah Palin is everything but mediocre.
“Palin’s husband and children played a role in giving her the image of being a politician and a family person,” says Leslie Crudele, a student at the University of Richmond. “As the Republican Party always emphasizes ‘family values,’ having the image of the perfect American family was very important to her campaign.” 
The Palins have been doing everything to look like one big happy family, Sarah Palin, like the prototypical “hockey-mom” has been in charge.  It is easy for the public to relate to them. What made this condition even truer was when Palin’s teenage daughter’s pregnancy became public.
“Teen pregnancy is a common problem many American families face. And, as a conservative who supports pro-life, the fact that she was practicing what she preaches ignited the conservative base of the GOP,” notes Brian Milosavljevic who does support and testing at The Voter Activation Network.
Palin presents herself as normal woman with traditional values but in modern wrapping. She uses modern technologies to communicate with her masses.  Facebook and Twitter are her main means of communication with public and media.  She shares and people listen.
“It looks like Palin’s use of social media has been very effective so far,” says Tomas Kristlik, an American Studies graduate from Charles University in Prague. “This strategy is satisfactory on the local or primary level, but if she wants to go further, for example for the presidential campaign in 2012, she will, sooner or later, have to accept a more traditional approach and focus more on mainstream media.”
Since she resigned from her post of Alaska governor, Palin has not been to a significant political function, even though she has had a big influence on this year’s primaries as a backer of Tea Party candidates. Her next big battle and attempt to take up an important post might be the presidential elections.  Is Sarah Palin going to enter the GOP presidential primary?  Yes.  Is she going to become the next American president?  Probably not.  But for sure, there will be a lot of stir about Sarah Palin in 2012. She is aggressive, ambitious, visible, memorable, and she knows what she wants.
“Initially, due to her being a complete unknown, she had a great public image. I, a staunch liberal, even liked her as a person, albeit briefly,” admits Milosavljevic. “But as time went by, she quickly revealed that she was not very educated in domestic or foreign affairs and had no business having the opportunity to lead our country. Now a small percentage of people respect her and fewer think she can lead the country. For all intense and purposes, she is a celebrity, not a politician.”